TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Saturday’s LSU-Alabama football game inside Bryant-Denny Stadium featured the top two teams in the Associated Press poll and was cloaked in patriotism to accompany a visit from President Donald Trump.
There was plenty of dynamic offensive play to go around – 1,100 combined yards to be precise – but LSU’s 46-41 victory will be remembered most for banishing an eight-game losing streak to the Crimson Tide and for catapulting the top-ranked Tigers into the driver’s seat for their first Southeastern Conference Western Division title since 2011.
“Obviously I’m very happy with how we played,” LSU coach Ed Orgeron said. “It’s been a long time coming. We felt it all week, that we were the better football team. I said to our team on Monday, ‘We’re the better football team, but we have to play to prove it.’ We played.”
LSU scored the final 17 points of the first half to build a 33-13 lead at intermission before spending the fourth quarter producing two 75-yard touchdown drives that provided double-digit leads after Alabama had pulled within a single possession.
Tigers quarterback Joe Burrow completed 31 of 39 passes for 393 yards and three touchdowns, and he rushed 14 times for 64 yards. LSU running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who had six carries for just 14 yards in last season’s 29-0 loss to the Tide in Baton Rouge, complemented Burrow with 20 carries for 103 yards and three scores.