Before the season started, Alabama coach Dennis Franchione said he wanted the best team in the Southeastern Conference Western Division to not make the SEC Championship in Atlanta. That just may be the case.
Proving itself as the SEC West’s best team, the Crimson Tide (9-2, 6-1 SEC) rushed for 300 yards and buried the Tigers (7-3, 4-2), 31-0, before 92,012 at Tiger Stadium Saturday night.
“We got beat by a better team tonight,” said LSU coach Nick Saban. “We didn’t capitalize or take advantage of opportunities that we had.”
Despite the loss, LSU still controls its destiny in the SEC West because Auburn lost to Georgia.
“We’ve still got a lot to play for,” Saban said. “And if we win our next two games, I still think we have a good chance to win the [SEC] championship. That’s what we have to shoot for. That’s what we have to work for.”
The game eerily resembled the last time LSU was shutout in Tiger Stadium when the Crimson Tide blanked the Tigers 26-0 in 1996 behind 291 rushing yards from former ‘Bama tailback Shaun Alexander.
The Tigers had no answer for the Tide running game Saturday night.
Shaud Williams rushed for 131 yards, and Santonio Beard had 109 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Tyler Watts completed 11-of-20 passes for 177 yards and a touchdown and rushed for another 37 yards and a score. The majority of Alabama’s rushing yards came on the draw play.
“They executed [the draw] to perfection,” said LSU linebacker Bradie James, who led the Tigers with 15 tackles. “I don’t know. We just couldn’t stop it.”
Following a scoreless first quarter in which LSU held Alabama to 21 yards on the ground, the Tide started to roll on its final two drives of the first half.
Beard capped off an 8-play, 64-yard drive with a 6-yard run around the right end to put Alabama up 6-0. The drive also featured draw runs of 16 yards by Watts and 26 yards by Williams.
LSU stalled on its next possession but was able to pin Alabama at its own 4-yard line with 1:53 left in the half. Williams, Beard and Watts then went back to the “drawing” board, literally.
Beard rushed for back-to-back draws of 12 and 19 yards, followed by 18- and 32-yard draws by Williams.
Watts finished off the 9-play, 96-yard drive with a scamper around right end into the end-zone for a 14-0 halftime lead. The Crimson Tide rushed for 155 yards in the second quarter.
“The draw play killed us pretty much all night,” Saban said.
The momentum seemed to swing back in the Tigers’ direction in the third quarter.
Facing fourth and 10 from its own 43-yard line and lined up in punt formation, Bradie James successfully executed a fake punt and plowed 29 yards to the Alabama 28-yard line on a play that seemed to give the Tiger Stadium crowd new life.
But on the very next play, LSU quarterback Marcus Randall coughed up the football and Alabama recovered. The Tigers did not come close to scoring after that, as the Crimson Tide poured it on.
“That’s a momentum changer in the game when you do the fake punt,” Saban said. “I think if we score anything there, the momentum of the game comes back to us.”
Alabama drove the nail in the coffin when Beard scored again on the first play of the fourth quarter on a 22-yard run to give ‘Bama a 21-0 lead.
Kyle Robinson kicked a 46-yard field goal, and Watts hit Zach Fletcher on a 27-yard strike to finished the job.
‘Bama finished with 477 yards of total offense.
“Alabama played well today,” James said. “My hat goes off to them because for them to come in on the road and do what they did to us, my hat is off to them. All we can do is learn from this.”
After torching the Alabama defense for 611 yards last season, including 528 through the air, the LSU offense only mustered up 196 yards and 65 in the passing game.
Randall finished the game 6-of-17 for 39 yards. Redshirt freshman Rick Clausen replaced Randall in the fourth quarter and finished 3-of-6 for 26 yards. LSU gained only 64 yards in the second half.