1. Alabama’s defense
While the season glory has revolved around Alabama’s offense, tonight Alabama’s defense was outstanding. Posting a 29-0 shutout over the No. 3 ranked LSU Tigers was just what the college football committee and the rest of the country needed to see, this team is on another level on both sides of the football.
LSU’s offense was stagnant all night long and finally passed the 100-yard mark in the beginning of the fourth quarter. In total, Alabama’s defense held LSU’s offense to 196-yards and just 12 rushing yards. 12. Against, Tennessee Alabama allowed 31-yards of rushing yards, and while sacks take away rushing yards, LSU’s leading rusher Ed Helaire ran for 6 carries for just 14-yards.
Passing wise, LSU quarterback Joe Burrow was sacked five times, and that hit from Anfernee Jennings nearly implanted Burrow into the turf.
2. Top Performers
Quinnen Williams was unreal on the evening. He had 10 tackles, 7 which were solo tackles, 2.5 sacks, and 3.5 tackles for a loss. Dylan Moses, as well as Mack Wilson each, played well on the night, the inside linebacker duo recorded 10 tackles. Freshman Patrick Surtain played big and battled a ball away from a defender that could have been a touchdown. Saivion Smith playing against his former teammates at LSU had 6 tackles and 2 pass breakups, one which he should have caught and taken to the house.
Offensively, Tua Tagovailoa was 25 of 42 passing for 295-yards with 2 touchdowns and threw his first interception of the year. He also ran for 49-yards, which includes his 44-yard touchdown run. While he did miss on some deep balls, credit LSU’s secondary for playing well most of the evening, the Tigers have an outstanding group back there.
Damien Harris was exceptional on the night and played like an NFL back. He ran the football 19 times for 107-yards with a touchdown. This was Harris’ best game as a member of the Crimson Tide in my opinion. Jerry Jeudy did what Jerry Jeudy does: Make big plays. He caught 8 passes for 103-yards and made defenders look silly at times.
The offensive line played very well and only allowed one sack on the evening. Jonah Williams, I would imagine grades out very high come Sunday.
3. The kicking game
I simply cannot wrap my head around this. How does the number one team in the country have such a terrible kicking game? More specifically, the PAT unit needs a revamp. Alabama has missed now six PATs this year, the first missed PAT on the night was on Mac Jones, he bobbled the ball. The second missed PAT was a low kick.
I would really hate to see Alabama have to make a PAT with the game on the line. I think if Alabama is ever in that scenario, they should put Tua in, and just go for two.
The good news is that punter Mike Bernier is serviceable. Tonight he punted four times for 131-yards with an average of 32.8. It does not have to be pretty, just punt the ball.
Game Notes from Alabama
NOTES
GAME CAPTAINS: Alabama’s captains against LSU tonight were linebacker Anfernee Jennings, linebacker Christian Miller and offensive lineman Jonah Williams.
DEFENSIVE NOTES
SCORING DEFENSE AT TIGER STADIUM: The Alabama defense has not surrendered a touchdown in its last 11 quarters of play (and one overtime possession) at Tiger Stadium. LSU last found the end zone at home against the Tide with a touchdown pass at the 2:07 mark of the first quarter in UA’s 20-13 overtime win over the Tigers in 2014, a span of 165 minutes and seven seconds. The Tide has outscored the Tigers 59-6 over those 11 quarters in Baton Rouge.
CAREER NIGHT FOR QUINNEN WILLIAMS: Defensive lineman Quinnen Williams turned in a career performance against LSU. The sophomore tallied career highs in tackles (10) and sacks (2.5) and equaled his career high in tackles for loss (3.5) to lead an Alabama defense that limited LSU to 196 yards in total offense.
DOUBLE-DIGIT TACKLES FOR LOSS: Alabama’s 10 tackles for loss against LSU tonight marks the fourth time this season the Crimson Tide has reached double digits in stops behind the line of scrimmage. UA had 11 tackles for loss at Tennessee on Oct. 20, 10 against Texas A&M on Sept. 22 and 11 against Louisville on Sept. 1.
TURNOVERS, TURNOVERS, TURNOVERS: Mack Wilson’s fourth quarter end zone interception tonight gives the Crimson Tide at least one forced turnover in 51 of its last 53 games dating to the start of the 2015 season. During the current run, the Crimson Tide has forced 90 turnovers (62 interceptions, 28 fumbles) and returned 21 of those miscues for touchdowns.
FIRST HALF RUSHING DEFENSE: Alabama limited LSU to -1 yards rushing in the first half, marking the second consecutive game UA has held an opponent to a negative rushing total in the opening half. The Crimson Tide limited Tennessee to -13 yards rushing in the first half of the Tide’s 58-21 win on Oct. 20, the lowest total allowed by the Crimson Tide this season.
OFFENSIVE NOTES
NINTH CONSECUTIVE 500+ YARD TOTAL OFFENSE GAME: Alabama’s 576 yards in total offense against LSU marks the ninth time the Crimson Tide has topped 500 yards this season and the 21st time in the last 53 games dating to the start of the 2015 campaign. This is Alabama’s first nine-game run of 500-yard total offense performances in program history.
DRIVES UNDER A MINUTE: Alabama’s 27-second, second-quarter touchdown drive vs. LSU tonight was the Tide’s 21st scoring drive of less than a minute this season. Twelve of those drives have lasted less than 30 seconds. Alabama led the nation with 20 quick score drives entering play this weekend.
FIRST HALF TOTAL OFFENSE: With 325 total yards in the first two quarters against LSU this evening, Alabama is now averaging 365.3 yards in total offense in the first half this season (3,288 yards in nine games).
FIRST HALF SCORING: Through nine games this season, Alabama is outscoring its opponents, 326-58 (36.2-6.6), in the first half. That total includes a 171-31 (19.0-3.4) first quarter advantage and a 155-27 (17.2-3.0) difference in the second quarter.
TAGOVAILOA VS. SEC: In six games against Southeastern Conference opponents this season, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has thrown for 1,778 yards and 19 touchdowns with one interception on 99-of-151 passing (.656) for an efficiency rating of 204.67.
TUA AT THE HELM: Sophomore Tua Tagovailoa has directed 72 drives as the Tide’s starting quarterback this season with 45 resulting touchdowns (62.5 percent) and six culminating in field goals for 51 total scoring drives (70.8%). In those drives, the Tide offense is 36-for-57 (63.2 percent) on third down conversions, accounting for 3,555 yards on 390 snaps for an average of 9.12 yards per play and 328 of the 417 points scored by the UA offense.
SINGLE SEASON TOUCHDOWN PASSES: With two touchdown passes against LSU this evening, Tua Tagovailoa now has 27 in nine games this season, which ranks No. 4 on the Alabama single-season touchdown list. AJ McCarron is the UA leader with 30 in 2012. McCarron (2013) and Blake Sims (2014) are tied for second with 28.
TAGOVAILOA CAREER-LONG RUN: Tua Tagovailoa’s 44-yard touchdown run in the third quarter against LSU tonight is the longest run of his career. His previous best was a 23-yard scoring scamper against Tennessee in 2017.
TAGOVAILOA FIRST HALF PASSING: Through nine games, Tua Tagovailoa has thrown for 1,993 yards and 24 touchdowns with one interception on 112-of-158 passing (70.9 pct.) for an efficiency rating of 225.70.
LAST FIVE FIRST HALVES FOR TAGOVAILOA: Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa is 66-for-97 (68.0 percent) with 1,188 yards passing and 14 touchdowns in the first half of his last five games (vs. Louisiana, at Arkansas, vs. Missouri, at Tennessee, at LSU) for a passing efficiency rating of 216.46.
TAGOVAILOA PASSES WITHOUT AN INTERCEPTION: Tua Tagovailoa’s second quarter interception tonight was his first of the season and snapped a streak of 194 consecutive passes without an interception. The streak was the second-longest in school history. AJ McCarron holds the UA record with 291 consecutive passes from 2011-12.
DAMIEN HARRIS OVER 100 YARDS FOR THE SECOND TIME THIS SEASON: Damien Harris’ 107 yards rushing against LSU gave the senior his second 100-yard rushing game of the season and the ninth of his career. Harris now has 2,736 yards rushing for his career to move into ninth place on the UA career rushing list.
