TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Four of Alabama's five national championships under football coach Nick Saban have been the result of the Crimson Tide running the table after a regular-season loss to a Western Division counterpart in the Southeastern Conference.
Alabama succumbed to LSU in 2011, Texas A&M in 2012, Ole Miss in 2015 and Auburn in 2017 before regrouping, and junior receiver Henry Ruggs III was asked minutes after Saturday's 46-41 loss to LSU inside Bryant-Denny Stadium whether the recent history offered any comfort for this season's predicament.
"No," Ruggs said. "We lost the game."
Alabama's first national championship squad under Saban in 2009 is the lone team in his 13 seasons to go unscathed, with this year's Tide needing to overcome an emotional loss before a sold-out crowd of 101,821 that included President Donald Trump.
LSU used a late first-half interception of Tua Tagovailoa to stake a 33-13 halftime lead, the largest deficit at intermission Saban has incurred at Alabama, and the Tigers wound up hanging the most points on the Tide in Tuscaloosa since Sewanee rolled to a 54-4 win in 1907. The previous high yielded under Saban was in a 55-44 comeback triumph over Auburn in the 2014 Iron Bowl.
"This game is over, and we can't take it back," junior running back Najee Harris said after his 146-yard rushing performance. "We've got to move on to the next game and execute and see what happens after that."
Saturday's setback put LSU in firm control of the SEC West race and left Alabama clinging to hope of that fourth and final playoff spot behind the current undefeated trio of LSU, Ohio State and Clemson. Those were the top three teams in Sunday's Associated Press poll, with the Tide dropping from No. 2 to No. 4.
Georgia, Oregon, Minnesota, Utah, Penn State and Oklahoma round out the top 10.
Alabama claimed the fourth playoff spot two years ago with an 11-1 record that included an opening win over No. 3 Florida State in Atlanta and victories over two teams that were ranked at the end of the regular season - No. 16 LSU and No. 24 Mississippi State. This year's Tide opened against unranked Duke and do not own a win against a team that is currently ranked.
The Tide's next two games are Saturday at Mississippi State, which has struggled to a 4-5 record in Joe Moorhead's second season, and home the following week against Western Carolina, the lone FCS foe on this year's schedule. Alabama closes the regular season at Auburn, which is currently 7-2 and ranked No. 13, and the Tide actually need the rival Tigers to defeat Georgia this weekend to ensure an Iron Bowl triumph would be against as respected an opponent as possible.
"We just have to get better," junior safety Xavier McKinney said. "This was a wake-up call for us, and we know that. We don't think it's over yet. We're just going to try and get better. We're just worried about us right now, because that's really all we can do.
"Next week we'll be better. I promise you that."
Should Auburn defeat Georgia, Gus Malzahn's Tigers could enter the Iron Bowl harboring aspirations of that fourth and final playoff spot as well. Kirby Smart's Bulldogs are in that mix, obviously, along with the Big 12 champion, the Pac-12 champion and a surprise Big Ten champ such as Minnesota or Penn State.
"We've got to get ready for Mississippi State and move on," junior right tackle Jedrick Wills said. "We've got to take it week by week and see where we are at the end of the season."
Should Georgia win this week and Alabama's top victory at the end of the season be against an 8-4 Auburn, the Tide's best argument for the playoff could be that they outscored LSU 28-13 in the second half to make things close.
"I thought we really showed what we could do," Wills said. "We showed that we were a good team, but it was too late."
Said Harris: "The second half was important, but it didn't work out."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.