Welcome everyone to the latest edition of #4Downs where I break down what went right and what went wrong for the LSU Tigers. This week, we look at the Tigers 29-0 loss to the Crimson Tide.
1st Down: Worst Offensive Performance In Years
When you look at some of the more recent offensive performances by LSU against Alabama, the returns aren’t great. However, this was a new low for an LSU offense that has been able to keep games competitive all season long against some really good competition. Alabama’s defense was able to pretty much do whatever they wanted and it showed as the Tigers were shutout once again inside Tiger Stadium.
Joe Burrow wasn’t scared of the matchup at the beginning of the week, but once he started getting punched in the face, there was nothing he could do to help the Tigers get a single point on the board.
2nd Down: Tua Too Good
Tua Tagovailoa is an absolute stud and we all knew this headed into the ballgame. The difference was headed into the ballgame was that it felt like Alabama hadn’t played a defense that is the caliber of LSU. Perhaps it was more that the Tigers haven’t played an offense quite like Alabama’s.
Tua looked inhuman at certain points of the game with some incredible catches by his wideouts paired with some solid blocking by the offensive line, he was able to put the Heisman Trophy on lock with the kind of performance he had.
3rd Down: Run Game on Life Support
LSU’s run game has had a hard time figuring it out against Alabama in recent years. Remember when Fournette couldn’t crack 50 yards in 2015? Well, the stable of running backs couldn’t get into the positive yardage mark until the fourth quarter and even then they barely got 12 yards on 25 Carrie’s.
I mentioned earlier that this was the worst offensive performance in years and this was about 75 percent of the reason why.
4th Down: White Makes Up For Lost Time
Devin White got the crowd into it as the second half got kickstarted, but it wasn’t enough as White doesn’t do anything for the offensive side of the ball. He got eight total tackles in the second half which was tied for third behind Patrick Queen and Todd Harris, who picked off Tagovailoa in what wound up being the equivalent of a punt.
While White’s ejection vs Mississippi State was the talk of the town the last two weeks, his performance was inconsequential as the stagnant offense couldn’t capitalize on the defensive efforts.
Extra Point: Bold Prediction
2019 #LSU commit https://t.co/EQFHqyK7Ck
— Clint Domingue (@clintdomingue) November 4, 2018
One of the top commits for LSU in 2019 delivered a very bold prediction. It’s great to hear there’s confidence that they want to buck the trend of losing to the Alabama’s of the world and 2019 might be a great opportunity to do so, it just feels like we’re all living in Nick Saban’s world and we just have to deal with it.
This team continues to be one of the best teams every year and a ton of credit has to go to the coaching staff when it comes to scouting both when it comes to recruits and opponents. This
-Clint Domingue