LSU vs. Alabama: Game Grades, Analysis for Tigers and Crimson Tide

It was the perennial showdown between two SEC West heavyweights, and this time, it featured two Heisman-contending running backs. It was billed as a game that would come down to a single play or two in the fourth quarter. We expected fireworks from the Tigers and Tide.

But Alabama was the only team to effectively light the fuse.

The Tide bottled up Leonard Fournette all night, while Derrick Henry ran over, around and through the LSU defense to the tune of 210 yards.

It's time to go over the performances, group by group, in our weekly game grades.

Here is the box score from Saturday's game, via NCAA.com.

Position	First-Half Grade	Final Grade
Pass Offense	C+	C
Run Offense	D+	F
Pass Defense	B+	B-
Run Defense	C	D
Special Teams	A	B
Coaching	B	C-

LSU Pass Offense

Brandon Harris completed just six passes in the entire game on 19 attempts. The Tigers did manage to find 128 passing yards and a touchdown among those six completions, but it was really the interception to start off the second half that killed any chance LSU had at a comeback.

At that point, LSU was trailing by just three points, 13-10. But in one play, Harris threw the ball right to Dillon Lee, and the Tide took over at the LSU 30. A few plays later, it was 20-10.

Harris was under duress for most of the night, but he didn't find much help from his receivers and certainly not from his offensive line.

LSU Run Offense

Yikes, this was bad.

We knew Alabama's defensive front was good, but we thought LSU's O-line and Fournette were up to the challenge. Boy, were we wrong!

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Fournette ran the ball 19 times but was held to one yard or less on 13 of those carries. He finished with just 31 yards, and the Tigers totaled just 54 as a team.

There's really no other way to put this: LSU was awful running the ball, and Alabama was equally great at defending against it.

Not only did LSU lose control of the SEC West, but Fournette probably lost control of the Heisman race, too.

LSU Pass Defense

Giving up 184 passing yards isn't necessarily a bad night, but considering Alabama attempted just 24 passes (and completed 18 of them), those numbers suddenly don't look so stellar.

LSU did manage to keep Alabama's passing game out of the end zone, and the Tigers were able to bring occasional pressure on Jake Coker. But when it came to crunch time, the Tigers pass defense couldn't get the necessary stops.

LSU's passing defense was just ineffectual enough to open up the Bama ground attack, and in the second half, the combination of trying to defending against both the pass and the run simultaneously allowed the wheels to come off.

LSU Run Defense

As great as Alabama's run defense was, LSU's was the opposite.

Henry ran for 210 yards and three touchdowns against an LSU front that seemed completely overmatched for most of the contest.

John Bazemore/Associated Press

Kenyan Drake added 68 yards on 10 carries, and LSU's D-line looked like a war-weary group by the fourth quarter.

What's even more concerning is that the Tigers' ability to defend against the run seemed to get worse, not better, as the game wore on. They made no adequate adjustments, and Alabama looked to be a boulder picking up speed as it rolled down a hill.

By the time Alabama scored its final points of the evening, LSU was putting up little more than token resistance.

LSU Special Teams

Trent Domingue connected on his lone field-goal attempt of the evening but had an extra point blocked in the second half.

The real pain, though, came in the LSU kick-return game. The Tigers were stopped deep in their own end on multiple occasions, and the long kick return of the night was just 15 yards by Derrius Guice. Donte Jackson averaged just 2.5 yards on his two punt returns (six yards and minus-one yard).

LSU Coaching

We know LSU fans love Les Miles and company, and for good reason, but this was not the best performance by the coaching staff.

After the first-half debacle in the running game, we expected some major shifts in the second half that would see Fournette break open a little more or shift the play-calling scheme to something other than what we saw earlier.

Instead, we got more of the same.

Perhaps Miles believes that Fournette is the only worthy weapon LSU has on offense. Perhaps he just thought that time and perseverance were all that were needed. Whatever he was thinking, it was wrong.

LSU was not only outplayed but out-coached.

Position	First-Half Grade	Final Grade
Pass Offense	B-	B+
Run Offense	B+	A
Pass Defense	A-	A
Run Defense	A	A+
Special Teams	A	A
Coaching	B+	A+

Alabama Pass Offense

Alabama only needed to throw the ball 24 times—just enough to keep LSU off balance against Henry's rushing attack.

But Coker made the most of his 24 throws, completing 18 of them for 184 yards. And while he didn't find the end zone, he also avoided the one thing that could have allowed LSU to creep back into the game late: interceptions.

Calvin Ridley led the Tide receivers with 51 yards on seven catches.

Alabama Run Offense

Coming into this game, Fournette was all anyone could talk about when it came to Heisman contenders. On Sunday, it will be Henry.

John Bazemore/Associated Press

Henry torched LSU to the tune of 210 yards and three touchdowns on 38 carries, running all over the Tigers defense all night long.

The Alabama O-line was stellar in opening up lanes, and Henry did the rest by shrugging off multiple tacklers on seemingly every play. As easily as Alabama was able to bottle up Fournette, LSU had absolutely no answer for Henry.

Don't be surprised if Henry will be atop many Heisman watch lists from this point forward.

Alabama Pass Defense

LSU was looking to lean on Fournette, but when Alabama made it clear that wasn't an option, the Tide still put together a solid performance against the Tigers pass attack.

John Bazemore/Associated Press

Harris completed just six passes on the night, and Lee came up with perhaps the quintessential momentum-grabbing play at the beginning of the third quarter, picking Harris off deep in LSU's own end and setting up an Alabama score.

By the time LSU realized that the passing game was going to be its last and best hope, it was too late. The Tide simply covered receivers with blankets and pressured Harris into hurried throws.

Combined with the lockdown run defense, the passing defense came up big in this win for the Crimson Tide.

Alabama Run Defense

There is where Alabama won the game. Right from the first few series, it was clear that the front seven was planning on making a statement.

"Leonard who?"

OK, it's more of a question than a statement, but the end result was a defensive statement that the rest of the nation should notice: Run the ball against the Tide at your own peril.

It's not fair to call LSU a one-trick pony this season, but there's no doubt that LSU had been running to glory behind Fournette. Alabama's defense knew this and schemed beautifully to make devastating contact with Fournette in the backfield on almost every carry. Over his first 10 carries, he had just 10 yards. On 13 of his 19 carries, he was held to one yard or less.

We can't just give Alabama's defense an "A" here.  This was easily deserving of the grade reserved for nothing short of exceptional, above-and-beyond performance. Tide defense, you get a solid A-plus. If there was a grade higher, you'd get that, too.

Alabama Special Teams

The scuttlebutt has been that Nick Saban doesn't trust Adam Griffith in big-game situations. But after Griffith nailed a 55-yard field goal (along with two more and all three of his extra points), maybe we'll start to see fewer fourth-down conversion attempts from the Crimson Tide in the future.

Alabama Coaching

Saban proved once again that he's among the best college football coaches. He and his staff had a game plan to contain Fournette, and the players executed that plan to perfection.

John Bazemore/Associated Press

Few coaches could devise a plan to limit a guy like Fournette to 31 yards, regardless of the talent present on defense. Sure, Saban has a lot of talent at his disposal, but that talent is wasted without a plan. Heck, even against teams with solid plans, Fournette has found ways to make defenses look silly.

Not this time. As much credit as we're giving to the Alabama defense for stopping Fournette, we have to give the same credit to the coaching staff for preparing the defense.

Unless otherwise noted, quotes or references to quotes were obtained firsthand by the writer.

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