The Crimson Tide from Tuscalousa on Saturday night prevented the Tigers of LSU from successfully defending their SEC West title this 2023 football season. The game was a track meet between two talented quarterbacks with exceptional talent. Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe had the least playing experience of the two but in the end his team won the game.
No one knew it at the time, but Alabama won the game after the Tigers took the third quarter kick off and marched to a touchdown putting them in the lead 28-21. Alabama came roaring back scoring three unanswered touchdowns on their next three possessions and took the lead for good 42-28. The Alabama defense then took over and shut out the Tigers the rest of the game.
LSU's Daniels rushed for 163 yards on 11 carries and Milroe rushed for 155 yards on 20 carries. LSU's other rushers rushed for 43 yards on 13 carries and Alabama's other rushers rushed for 133 yards on 23 carries. Daniels scored one rushing touchdown while Milroe scored four rushing touchdowns.
The outcome of the game and the way things played out should be no surprise to LSU fans who are objective in evaluating the chances against the Tide. LSU's defensive problems have been there all year long and gave up big points. Also, LSU has only beaten one team with a winning record as of this date, Missouri. Also, every SEC team they have beaten this year had either a losing record or a break even record in SEC play. The two SEC teams left to play are Florida and Texas A&M and neither have a winning record in SEC play as of this date.
It was notable that three of the four Baton Rouge sports writers for the Advocate in Saturday's edition picked Alabama to beat LSU, however, their reporting during the season talked about LSU winning the SEC west again and making the BCS playoffs. Saturday's loss to Bama eliminates LSU from the BCS playoffs again this year, the last year of the present set up. So, in the 10 years of the present playoff system, LSU has made the playoffs only one time in 2019 when they won it all.
What is left now is to see how LSU and the coaching staff handle the final three games. This writer commented in PolitiDose commentary after last season was over that the results of the first year under new head coach Kelly would not indicate what the 2023 season would bring. That turned out to be accurate,
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
