The LSU defense performed well but it wasn’t enough as the Tigers fell to Alabama 20-9 Saturday night at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
LSU dropped to 5-4 with its third straight loss and 2-4 in the SEC. Alabama, ranked No. 4 in the nation, improved to 7-1 and 5-0.
It was the first game for LSU since Brian Kelly was fired and Frank Wilson was named interim head coach. Offensive coordinator Joe Sloan was also fired with Alex Atkins taking over playcalling duties.
But the LSU offense didn’t look much different than it did under Kelly. The Tigers had no success in the red zone and had to settle for three field goals.
In his post game press conference, Wilson echoed what Kelly said many times this season.
“We have to score touchdowns. We can’t settle for field goals.”
But Wilson liked the way the Tigers competed, saying they handled everything thing that’s happened in the last two weeks well.
“I thought you look at us and our preparation, you look at us in pregame, you look at how we played this game, that wasn’t a team that had quit in them,” he said. “That wasn’t a team that was submissive or not willing to fight back. It just wasn’t our day unfortunately to capitalize or win the football game.”
LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, once a Heisman candidate, was benched in the third quarter with the Tigers trailing 17-6.
He was replaced by sophomore Michael Van Buren.
Wilson said he made the move because he and the offensive staff thought Van Buren would be more able to move around and possibly run the ball. He added that it wasn’t necessarily because the coaching staff was disappointed with Nussmeier’s performance.
Early in the fourth quarter, Van Buren led LSU to a first-and-goal at the 7. But he was sacked for a 10-yard loss following a false start penalty.
On fourth down from the 20, Damian Ramos kicked a 37-yard field goal to cut Alabama’s lead to 17-9.
The Tigers forced a punt but had to punt the ball back to the Tide after gaining just one yard on three plays.
Alabama then drove to a field goal for the final margin.
LSU got off to a strong start. The Tigers stopped the Tide for no gain on fourth and 1 at their 39.
LSU then drove to the Alabama 13 but Ramos missed a 30-yard field goal attempt on fourth-and-6.
Ramos kicked a 37-yard field goal in the second quarter to tie the game at 3. Alabama took a 10-3 lead on a short run.
It looked like that would be the halftime score. But Ty Simpson completely a 53-yard pass to Lotzeir Brooks to the LSU 13. He followed that with a touchdown pass to Ryan Williams with 22 seconds left, putting Alabama ahead 17-3.
Van Buren completed 5-of-11 passes for 52 yards. Nussmeier was 18-of-21 for 131 yards.
Freshman Harlem Berry rushed for 66 yards on 12 carries. Zavion Thomas and Barion Brown both had five catches for 49 and 44 yards, respectively.
Simpson completed 21-of-35 passes for 277 yards. Alabama had only 56 yards rushing.