TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — For the fourth consecutive game, the LSU football team shut down the opposing offense in impressive fashion as the Tigers cruised to a 27-3 victory against the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa on Saturday.
The Tigers’ defense held the Southeastern Conference’s leading rusher Shaud Williams to just 39 yards on 11 carries and forced the Crimson Tide to go three-and-out in their first five offensive possessions.
“Overall we did a good job with the exception of a few plays,” said LSU defensive tackle Chad Lavalais. “Forcing a team to go three-and-out that much is real satisfying.”
Lavalais finished the game with four tackles — one for negative yardage — and recorded the first interception of his career.
Because of the many short three-play drives to which LSU held Alabama in the first half, the Tigers’ offense did not get much rest. But LSU quarterback Matt Mauck said that he doesn’t need a long break as long as the Tigers have possession of the ball.
“Anytime you get an opportunity to go out there with the ball, you want to take it,” Mauck said. “I’m just glad we don’t have to go up against them.”
LSU held Alabama to 219 yards of total offense — 65 rushing and 154 passing.
“We knew what we had to do,” said LSU linebacker Lionel Turner. “We wanted to come out and stop them, and that’s what we did.
The Tigers lead the nation by giving up only 7.7 points per game. Throughout the season, no team has scored a rushing touchdown against the Tigers’ starting defense, and only twice has a team scored a rushing touchdown against the Tigers — both coming late in the fourth quarter of blow out wins.
“We always tell the offense, just give us a field goal, and we’ll take care of the rest,” Turner said. “That is one of those things all defenses talk about. We want to stop the other team.”
The Tigers held the Crimson Tide to just three first downs in the first half and only 10 for the game.
“Our goal is to get off the field on third down,” said LSU cornerback Corey Webster. “I think we’ve played OK, but I don’t think we’ve played our best ball yet.”
The Tigers entered the game ranked first in the SEC and eighth in the nation in defensive pass efficiency and continued its dominance by holding Alabama quarterback Brodie Croyle to 12-of-33 passes for 154 yards and one interception.
The Tigers used many zone blitzes to pressure Croyle and pounded him throughout the game, something Webster said they will need to continue to do this week when they take on the SEC’s leading passer Eli Manning and Ole Miss this Saturday.
“He is a master of technique,” Webster said of Manning. “He’s a really good quarterback and finds the open receiver really fast. We’re looking forward to that challenge next week.”