LSU coach Les Miles didn’t need his notoriously quirky play-calling or gimmicky fakes to pull off his greatest hat trick yet.
In leading the No. 1 Tigers to a third victory against a Nick Saban-coached Alabama squad in five seasons, Miles just needed a gritty, opportunistic defense, an admirable performance from a maligned backup quarterback and a dose of sound special teams to turn back the No. 2 Tide, 9-6, on Saturday night in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Junior kicker Drew Alleman’s game-winning 25-yard field goal in the first overtime gave LSU its highest-ranked regular season win since the Tigers defeated No. 1 Florida in 1997.
It also marked the third road victory against a top-5 team for LSU under Miles.
LSU quieted a raucous sellout crowd of 101,821 that enhanced the game’s national title feel and created an unprecedented buzz for the first regular season matchup ever between top-ranked Southeastern Conference squads.
Alabama often threatened to break a tense, defensive slugfest open, but the Tiger defense stiffened in its half of the field to keep the Crimson Tide out of the end zone.
Alabama ran 19 plays inside the LSU 35-yard line, losing six total yards and turning the ball over on Tiger sophomore safety Eric Reid’s leaping interception near the goal-line off a wildcat pass by Alabama senior receiver Marquis Maze — changing the fourth quarter momentum and nixing ‘Bama’s best scoring chance in the process.
“That defense found ways to win that football game in spite of some things, some mistakes,” LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis said. “Any time you can keep a team of that caliber in the SEC from scoring a touchdown, that’s big-time effort.”
LSU largely beat Alabama at its own game, limiting second-half mistakes and using an all-timer of a defense to bludgeon its way to victory.
The Tigers outgained the Crimson Tide rushing attack by 52 yards, flustered sophomore opposing quarterback A.J. McCarron into two interceptions and converted all three of its red-zone chances into points.
LSU senior linebacker Ryan Baker said he felt pride as a defender in winning the purported “Game of the Century” without some of the zany circumstances that have peppered past wins under Miles.
“It really just shows the kind of grind-out football we can play,” said Baker, who led LSU with eight tackles. “We’re known as a sort of unconventional team, but we proved for good that we can win like this straight-up. We brought [Miles’] magic a little ourselves this time.”