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Alabama Football Vs. LSU: Crimson Tide Defense Dominates Tigers’ Offense En Route To 10-0 Victory

By Jason Fletcher
Published on: 15:37 PST, Nov 5, 2016

Aside from a regular season-ending matchup with the Auburn Tigers, the most difficult game remaining on the Alabama Crimson Tide’s schedule was on Saturday at LSU. The Tigers entered the game on a three-game win streak under interim head coach Ed Orgeron and the offense had looked rejuvenated after the coaching change.

All of those positives disappeared on Saturday for the LSU Tigers as they ran into the best defense in the country. Alabama held the Tigers to 125 total yards and six first downs on its way to a 10-0 victory in Baton Rouge that runs the team’s record to 9-0 in 2016.

The biggest factor in the victory for the Crimson Tide was the play of the front-seven. Jonathan Allen, Tim Williams, Ryan Anderson, Reuben Foster, Da’Ron Payne, Dalvin Tomlinson, and Shaun Dion Hamilton combined to make life a living nightmare for the Tigers. Star running back Leonard Fournette only rushed for 35 yards on 17 carries while the Tide sacked LSU quarterback Danny Etling five times and forced an errant throw that resulted in an interception in the second-half.

It didn’t matter what offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger called, the Alabama front-seven just beat the LSU offensive line like a drum all night long. This game was a perfect example of why the Crimson Tide could have as many as five defensive players selected in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft.

Offensively, it was a bit of a struggle most of the night for true freshman Jalen Hurts. The Alabama Crimson Tide didn’t score their first points of the game until the clock showed 13:08 remaining in the fourth quarter as Hurts scrambled into the end zone from 21 yards out to give the Tide a 7-0 lead.

On the night, Hurts was only 10-of-19 through the air for 107 yards and he threw his sixth interception of the season. He did, however, find great success on the ground as he carried the ball 20 times for 114 yards and that one touchdown. As a team, Alabama rushed for 218 yards on the night on its way to quite possibly the biggest win of the season to this point.

Nick Saban’s club will now return home to square off against the Mississippi State Bulldogs next week. Dan Mullen’s team is coming off of a shocking 35-28 victory over Texas A&M on Saturday. The Aggies got a gift this past week when they were named the No. 4 seed in the College Football Playoff ahead of the Washington Huskies despite the Huskies being undefeated and the Aggies already having one loss.

As for the Tigers, it’s the same old story against Alabama. This is now six straight wins for the Crimson Tide in the series and athletic director Joe Alleva has some serious decisions to make between now and next season. Orgeron is a tremendous recruiter and injected some life into the Tigers after the firing of Les Miles, but the folks at LSU expect to compete for a national championship every year and the school can’t do that without beating Alabama.

As the Inquisitr reported earlier this week, there were some rumors going around that LSU would remove the interim tag from Orgeron if he were to find a way to beat Alabama. Now that he’s lost, it would seem that Alleva must target the biggest coaching names in college football in order to get the LSU Tigers back on the national championship landscape.

[Featured Image by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images]

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