Humiliating
If you came into tonight skeptical of LSU’s ceiling under Brian Kelly, tonight might be definitive proof that the Tigers won’t ever reach the heights we expect around these parts.
Heading into a de facto elimination game, Kelly’s Tigers absolutely embarrassed themselves against Alabama losing 42 to 6. LSU is now 6-3, 3-2 in the SEC and for all intents and purposes their season is over.
With two weeks to prepare for a rushing quarterback, two weeks to simmer on Marcel Reed shredding your defense to shreds, Jalen Milroe ran for four touchdowns (again). LSU was woefully unprepared for tonight’s game (again) and LSU will be spending Christmas/New Year’s playing in some meaningless Florida bowl (again).
Alabama got called for a false start prior to the first play from scrimmage and that was the only mistake they’d make all night long. Milroe and his Alabama offense wouldn’t be denied, driving right down the field in eight plays and running it in from 39 yards out for the first of his four rushing touchdowns.
LSU would respond with a field goal on its first offensive possession of the game. The Tigers got the ball with excellent field position thanks to Zavion Thomas returning the kick 50 yards, and then Caden Durham got LSU to the Alabama five with a 45 yard run on a stretch play. But, as we’ve seen so many times this season, the drive stalled out inside the red zone. Sure, LSU got three points to make it a 7-3 game, but that should have been a sign that this would be a long night for LSU.
Alabama one-upped LSU’s field goal with a touchdown drive with its second touchdown on as many possessions to push its lead to 14-3. The two teams would trade punts and LSU was able to get back within a one-score game thanks to a second Damian Ramos field goal, but then Murphy’s Law kicked in.
Trailing 14-6 and hanging on for dear life, LSU got what looked like a momentum-swinging defensive stand on fourth down. Then Garrett Nussmeir took a sack on 1st down, fumbled the ball, and gave the ball right back to Alabama. Three plays later, Jalen Milroe was in the end zone for a second time and Bama’s lead grew to 21-6.
LSU had a chance to get some points before halftime, but piss poor clock management and play calling ended whatever chance LSU had at getting a spark, taking a breath, and coming out with a renewed focus in the second half.
With 43 seconds remaining in the half, and the ball at the Alabama 42 yard line, DJ Chester was called for a false start. LSU only had one timeout to work with so they ate a 10-second run off. Nuss then dumped the ball off to Josh Williams for a mere gain of four yards, causing LSU to burn its final timeout, and on third and 11 the call was a swing pass to Caden Durham that lost six yards, and LSU didn’t even bother trying a Hail Mary on fourth down.
Down but not out, LSU got the ball to start the second half and had a nice looking drive to start the half…only for Nussmeier to thrown an interception at the goal line for his second turnover of the night. Four plays later, Milroe scored his hat trick with a 72 yard touchdown run to open the fourth quarter and make it a 28-6 game. You knew you had to stop the running quarterback, and instead Milroe ran for 185 yards.
Honestly that’s about when I checked out and started working on this recap. Apparently Nuss threw a second interception and Milroe ran in a fourth touchdown. He’ll end his career against LSU 2-0 with eight rushing touchdowns. Somebody named Richard Young ran it in from nine yards out to push Bama’s lead to 42-6. Good on ya, kid.
If anyone has seen the team that dominated Arkansas and had a two-score halftime lead against Texas A&M please let me know. Because since going into halftime up 17-7, LSU has been outscored 73-19 over its last six quarters.
Brian Kelly has done a good job getting LSU out of the rot that his predecessor left him in. But LSU had as promising a November schedule as they could have possibly hoped for, and instead they got embarrassed on a national stage. The governor embarrassed the state with the stunt that he pulled, the program embarrassed the state with the effort they played with, and Kelly is showing there’s a ceiling on this program under his leadership.
I hope y’all like spending your New Years in Jacksonville or Tampa or whatever. Because that’s all this program is ever going to be under this regime.