By Sean Labar
The LSU Tigers needed a win over the Alabama Crimson Tide to keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive, but even under the bright lights in Death Valley, their SEC rivals rolled to town and dominated from start to finish.
In a game that was advertised as an elimination matchup between the two SEC teams that can’t afford another loss if they want to make the 12-team playoff pool, Alabama was in complete control from the opening whistle, cruising to a 42-13 victory.
Alabama QB Jalen Milroe was the story of the night. The Crimson Tide QB had a career outing and was unstoppable as a runner, finishing the game with 185 yards on the ground and four rushing touchdowns.
The LSU defense couldn’t find an answer to slow Milroe down as a running threat — so Kalen DeBoer and the Alabama offensive staff kept calling plays that were working — and Milroe only threw the ball 18 times for 109 yards.
The Alabama offense was nearly unstoppable and even when the Tigers knew they were going to run over and over again, they couldn’t stop the Tide.
The Crimson Tide finished the night with 420 total yards of offense while converting 10-of-13 on third down and punting just twice during the contest.
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On the other side, the LSU offense found success moving the ball, but costly errors and an inability to find the end zone made it impossible for the Tigers to catch up to the Tide. Brian Kelly’s squad turned the ball over three times, with two interceptions and a lost fumble on the stat sheet by the final whistle.
Brian Kelly Looks Awful After LSU Coaching Staff Leaves With Almost 2 Minutes Left In Game
Alabama handed LSU its first home loss at Tiger Stadium since 2022. And despite all of the pregame hype and the challenge of playing in one of the toughest road environments especially at night, LSU fans were flocking for the exits by the end of the third quarter which was a rare sight to see.
But in a wild twist of events, LSU fans weren’t the only people in attendance to leave the game early with an association to the Tigers’ football program.
With 1:47 left on the clock in the fourth quarter, the LSU coaches in the booth called it a night, at least that’s how it appeared from the X account @TigerDroppings. They posted a photo of what looked to be the LSU coaching booth and it was completely empty with almost two minutes left in the game.
What a joke. pic.twitter.com/P0KQM2qH2m
— TigerDroppings (@TigerDroppings) November 10, 2024
Kelly acknowledged his team was completely unprepared following the loss and took full responsibility for it.
“If you’re watching the game, you’re like, ‘What did these guys do for two weeks?’” Kelly said after a loss that took away the Tigers’ playoff chances.
“We have a scheme to stop the quarterback. We did not get it done. I take responsibility for it.”
Still, the staff completely bailing out of the booth before the final whistle isn’t a great look at all. Let’s hope for Kelly’s sake the photo isn’t accurate.
