The no. 1 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide proved that their showdown in Baton Rouge was just
another game with a 29-0 victory against the no. 3 LSU Tigers.
The Tide continued their impressively balanced season performance, nearly matching their 38-
point margin of victory against an elite team in college football.
Bama now sits at 9-0 (6-0 SEC) with the Heisman front-runner Tua Tagovailoa showing no signs
of slowing down. Tagovailoa played his first fourth quarter and had his most pass attempts of
the season at 42. He completed 25 of them for 295 yards, two touchdowns, a 44-yard rushing
touchdown, and his first interception of the year on a deep prayer.
Alabama came out on fire down to LSU’s 14-yard line on their opening drive but penalties that
resulted in a 4th and 30 resulted in their first scoreless opening drive in the last eight games.
The second drive was different for the Tide. After a 28-yard run by Najee Harris on his 83-yard
night, Tagovailoa threw a 15-yard strike at the goal-line to Montgomery native Henry Ruggs III
for the score. After an awkwardly botched extra-point, Joseph Bulovas redeemed himself with a
23-yarder to make this one 9-0 in the second quarter.
After an intercepted bomb from Tagovailoa at the LSU 4-yard line late in the first-half and an
Anfernee Jennings sack on Joe Burrow, Bama got the ball back in the final two minutes for a
scoring drive. Jerry Jeudy’s Reggie Bush-esque 29-yard reception set up a perfect strike to Irv
smith Jr. on a 25-yard Touchdown to make it 16-0 at the end of the first-half.
Following LSU’s eighth punt to open the half, Tagovailoa gave Bama a score on the ground with
an untouched 44-yard dash up the middle to make things 22-0.
Bama’s shutout required a little bit of luck as the Tigers had multiple chances to score in the red
zone. A 33-yard missed field goal started the fourth quarter for the LSU Tigers. After a 29-yard
Najee Harris run, Damien Harris punched in a 1-yarder on his 19 carries for 107-yard night to
make it the final 29-0 score.
Joe Burrow continued to struggle with an interception to a leaping Mack Wilson in the middle
of the end zone during garbage time. Bama held him to just 184 yards passing and the Tigers to
12 yards rushing.
"I think we played a pretty complete game today on both sides of the ball We talked about
controlling the line of scrimmage and I think we did that. We did have a turnover on the pass
but I was really pleased with the explosive plays we were able to make, the way we were
able to control the tempo of the game on offense”, said Coach Saban.
In what proved to be a statement win for the Tide in a highly criticized cupcake schedule
season, Bama proved that they do, in fact, have the real deal at quarterback and amore than
capable defense.
Moving on, Bama concludes its regular season with three heavily favored home games
against Mississippi State, citadel, and Auburn. It is now confirmed that the Crimson Tide will
face Georgia in the SEC championship after their win over Kentucky, which will now be
perceived as Bama’s toughest task of the season.
(Photo courtesy of The Crimson White)