by Chris Macaluso
LSUsports.net
Saturday’s LSU-Alabama game in Tiger Stadium had enough plots to fill a season’s worth of soap operas.
Before kick-off, there was no way of knowing whether or not the Crimson Tide would win for its fallen leader after Tide Coach Mike Dubose was relieved of his duties last Wednesday. There was no way of knowing whether LSU could end 30 years of heartbreaking losses to the Tide in Baton Rouge. And there was no way of knowing whether or not the Tigers could break two years worth of losing and get that ever so desired sixth win to be bowl eligible.
But as the plots played themselves out with enough drama to fill a Shakespearean five-act, the only thing that mattered to first-year Tiger Head Coach Nick Saban and his players as fans rushed the field was the final score.
LSU 30, Alabama 28.
“We’re proud of our players,” Saban said. “I think they accomplished a lot out there today.”
What the Tigers accomplished was something no other LSU team has been able to since 1969, beat the Crimson Tide in Tiger Stadium. The Tigers also kept alive the hope of winning the SEC West and a possible rematch with Florida in the conference championship game.
“It was a great win for us,” Saban said. “Alabama has a great football team and they are very well coached. They played hard in the game.”
“Hard” enough to keep the outcome in doubt until late in the fourth quarter.
LSU struggled to an early lead after squandering good field postion on its first three posessions. Tiger quarterback Josh Booty completed a 34-yard touchdown pass to his favorite target for the evening, wide receiver Josh Reed with 1:02 to play in the first quarter to break the scoreless tie. Reed finished the contest with a game-high eight catches for 129 yards and two touchdowns.
“He (Booty) was just finding the open man and doing what he had to do to get the ball inot the endzone,” Reed said.
The LSU lead disaapeared shortly after the start of the second quarter though, when Tide QB Andrew Zow completed a 9-yard pass to Antonio Carter with 12:12 to play in the first half. Booty hit Reed again, this time from 11-yards out to give LSU the lead at the half 14-7.
But the Tiger lead dissapeared as the first two scores of the second half belonged to the Crimson Tide. Tailback Ahmaad Galloway scored on a 55-yard run and fullback Dustin McClintock dove in from 1-yard out to make the score 21-14 in favor of Alabama heading into the final quarter. A hush fell over the record crowd of 91,778. Saban said Alabama’s ability to run the football in the third quarter completely changed the complexion of the game. The Tide finished the contest with 164 yards rushing despite having just 18 yards on the ground in the first half.
“Defensively we had a little lull where they were pounding us pretty good in the third quarter,” Saban said. “They put the big fullback in the game and ran the ball down hill on us. If we would have put the game away in the first half they wouldn’t have been able to do that. That’s what scared me the most about Alabama, they can just line up and run the ball on us.”
That “lull” didn’t last long though, as both Tiger fans and players rallied in the fourth quarter.
Booty found tight end Robert Royal in the back of the end zone with 10:06 to play in the game. A blocked John Corbello extra point attempt made the Alabama lead 21-20. LSU scored again less than two minutes later capitolizing on a Tide turnover with a 28-yard Corbello field goal. The Tigers sealed the victory less than three minutes later when Royal plowed his way into the end zone with 5:49 remaining.
Reed said LSU’s fourth quater offensive assualt was the result of he and his teammates getting mad. “Yeah, “Yeah, we did a lot to stop ourselves early in the game,” he said. “They (Alabama) had some opportunites and they took advantage of them. When it came down to it we wanted to win the game and we stayed in there and it came out positive.”
Saban said he’s hoping for the same result when his team travels to Ole Miss next Saturday.
The win improved LSU’s record to 6-3 overall, 4-2 in the SEC and made the Tigers bowl eliigible for th first time since the 1997 season. Saban said being bowl eligible is nice for the fans and for his team, but it is just one of the goals he and his players are shooting for this season.
“I’m happy for the fans and the kids,” he said. “It gives us something to look forward to. But there are other things we’d like to play for as well, like a championship.We’d like to break the top 25. Right now we’re just going to focus on the process of what we have to do to win every week, every day.”