Alabama defensive lineman Quinnen Williams (92) had 10 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks during the Crimson Tide’s 29-0 trampling of LSU on Saturday night in Baton Rouge, La.Alabama’s football team continues to lead the nation in scoring offense despite being held to its season low in points Saturday night at LSU.
The Crimson Tide are making a push to lead the nation in scoring defense as well.
Saturday night’s 29-0 blanking of the Tigers finally allowed Alabama’s defenders to share a spotlight that had been owned the first eight games by Tua Tagovailoa. The sophomore quarterback did nothing to damage his Heisman Trophy hopes with first-half touchdown passes to Henry Ruggs and Irv Smith plus a 44-yard scoring run at the 5:14 mark of the third quarter, but the Tide’s menacing defense held LSU to just 12 rushing yards.
It marked the worst ground total for the Tigers since 1999.
“Just because our offense is good, we wanted to show that we can play both sides of the ball really well,” Tide sophomore linebacker Dylan Moses, who was playing in his hometown of Baton Rouge, told reporters afterward. “Our defensive line just dominated. Our goal was to get the fans out of here, and I feel like we completed that.”
The No. 1 Tide (9-0, 6-0 Southeastern Conference) will enter this Saturday’s home game against No. 18 Mississippi State (6-3, 2-3) with per-game averages of 51.3 points scored and 14.1 points allowed, which ranks seventh nationally.
Alabama began this season with eight new defensive starters, and the Tide have struggled on occasion on that side of the ball, most notably in a 65-31 win at Arkansas on Oct. 6. Roughly a third of Alabama’s points allowed have occurred against reserves in the fourth quarter, but there was no blinking inside Tiger Stadium against an LSU offense that racked up 475 yards and 36 points on Oct. 13 against Georgia, which will face Alabama in the SEC championship game Dec. 1 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
The Tide pressured Tigers quarterback Joe Burrow on 52 percent of his dropbacks and tallied 10 lost-yardage stops. LSU (7-2, 4-2) dropped from third to ninth in the AP Top 25 poll after Saturday’s loss.
“To shut out this team is a pretty significant accomplishment,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said in a postgame news conference. “We did a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage and played the run very well. We created a lot of good down-and-distance situations. We stopped the run, which allowed us to play a lot of split-safety coverage, and we didn’t give up many explosive plays.”
Redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Quinnen Williams lived in LSU’s backfield, amassing 10 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.
Alabama’s offense racked up 576 yards, surpassing the 500-yard mark for the ninth time this season. Senior running back Damien Harris and sophomore running back Najee Harris combined for 190 yards on 25 carries, while Tagovailoa completed 25 of 42 passes for 295 yards.
Tagovailoa now has 27 touchdown tosses this season, but he threw his first interception when Todd Harris picked off a deep attempt at the LSU 4-yard line in the second quarter.
“That was a great play by the DB,” Tagovailoa said. “I should have never made that decision.”
The biggest negative in Alabama’s eighth straight win over LSU was its kicking game. Redshirt freshman Joseph Bulovas made a 23-yard field goal but was just 2-for-4 on extra-point tries.
Alabama has missed a whopping six extra-point kicks this season.
“There is no sense in being frustrated,” Saban said. “We just need to get it right. I think guys are capable. They do it in practice, and they do it very well.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.