Alabama is accustomed to not just scoring a touchdown on every opening drive, but doing it immediately — within two minutes on average, sometimes on the first play.
LSU made Alabama look mortal on an opening drive for the first time all year
It’s a real achievement by 2018 Bama standards.
Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
So LSU made a hell of a stand against the Crimson Tide to open their Saturday blockbuster in Baton Rouge. The Tiger defense not only didn’t get scored on, but actually made Bama’s terrifying machine of an offense look kind of disheveled at points. This is the 2018 college football equivalent of a 1985 Chicago Bears’ing, and it deserves our celebration.
LSU was really physical and actually made Bama look rattled.
Jerry Jeudy lost 8 yards on a catch from Tua Tagovailoa to bring up a second-and-18. Then Tagovailoa threw an incompletion — one of a massive three on the drive.
Then Alabama false started on back-to-back plays, turning a third-and-18 into a third-and-28, before running for a loss of 2 and punting the ball away.
On the first of those false starts, live play continued, and Tagovailoa got hurt:
Jalen Hurts isn’t healthy, so third-stringer Mac Jones briefly appeared. But he almost didn’t actually run a play, because that second false start happened immediately. Tagovailoa ran back out, only to be told he had to sit out again because he hadn’t missed a whole play, as is required after a player stays down injured under NCAA rules.
The Tigers did a lot of gang tackling on the drive, which they spent pretty much exclusively in press coverage. Given LSU’s bevy of blue-chip DBs, that’s its best bet to contend.
Bama’s Mike Bernier punted 34 yards into the end zone for a touchback to end the drive, which totaled 11 plays and 41 yards across 5:12. It really is the single most impressive thing a defense has done against this buzzsaw all season.
Five plays and 10 yards later, LSU punted back to the Tide, who in turn mounted a five-play, 78-yard TD drive.
Playing Bama seems like lots of fun.
See More:
