Milroe, DeBoer save Alabama’s season while LSU, Brian Kelly go splat
How do you like Kalen DeBoer now? Alabama resurrected its CFP bracket hopes and made LSU go splat.
Brian Kelly still hasn’t solved LSU’s defense. Jalen Milroe proved that.
In agony just a month ago, Alabama fans should relish this revival.
BATON ROUGE, La. – Who’s talking about Vanderbilt now? Who’s fretting over Kalen DeBoer’s fashion choices.
All’s well again in Roll Tide World.
DeBoer and his Crimson Tide got off the mat and silenced critics. No. 11 Alabama saved its season by stomping No. 13 LSU 42-13 in front of a hostile crowd of 102,283 at Tiger Stadium.
By the buzzer, the stands were nearly empty.
Alabama’s season looked ripe for burial after losses to Vanderbilt and Tennessee. Consider this an Alabama resurrection, but keep the shovel handy. Toss the dirt on Brian Kelly’s third LSU season, while DeBoer speeds toward the College Football Playoff in his first season as Nick Saban’s successor.
Who would’ve believed a few months ago that DeBoer would lose to Vanderbilt and still be positioned for a CFP bid?
Alabama fans who were in agony a few weeks ago, stressing about everything from penalties and discipline to DeBoer’s game-day wardrobe choices will take a victory lap Monday when they light up on the phone lines on “The Paul Finebaum Show.”
Jalen Milroe runs wild against LSU, spurring Alabama revival
This place buzzed with energy all day, creating an environment fit this CFP eliminator.
ESPN’s carnival barker Pat McAfee cajoled Tigers fans into multiple rounds of their infamous, lewd chant in the morning on “College GameDay,” and that energy carried through the opening kickoff.
With the crowd roaring, Alabama got flagged for a false start before its first snap.
And then, throughout the next 3½ hours, Alabama tortured that crowd.
LSU brought a caged tiger onto the sideline for this high-stakes clash, reviving an old tradition. That big cat watched while Alabama’s offense purred, as LSU looked some combination of woefully unprepared and ill-equipped to stop Jalen Milroe and Co.
For the second year in a row, Milroe ran circles around an LSU defense that remains befuddled by any quarterback with wheels.
Perhaps, we should have seen an Alabama season like this coming. DeBoer’s Washington Huskies won as cardiac cats last year, tiptoeing the high wire in a number of one-possession victories.
He’s cardiac Kalen, but that caused heartburn for Alabama in losses to Vanderbilt and Tennessee.
No drama in this one. No abundance of penalties. No discipline hiccups. No turnovers from Milroe, who looked like the Heisman-caliber performer we saw back in September.
No trouble at all. Alabama played as well as it has all season and turned this into a full-fledged beatdown.
Alabama (7-2) still has work to do to complete a playoff résumé. It can’t afford another loss, but it won’t face another ranked team.
In what could be Alabama’s final chance to make a statement to the CFP committee, the Tide loudly burnished their playoff bona fides, while wrecking LSU.
Brian Kelly’s third LSU season goes splat
LSU, a playoff team? Forget it.
Alabama, standing on the cliff of elimination, found its footing and shoved LSU off the ledge.
The Tigers bet big on Kelly three years ago, backing up the Brinks truck to uproot him from Notre Dame. Kelly’s three LSU predecessors each won a national championship, but he looked a long, long ways from any place worthy of exaltation on this night.
This becomes the low point of Kelly’s tenure.
The Tigers couldn’t get out of their own way.
If they ever took a step forward, they followed with two backward.
In a two-play encapsulation of how the night went for LSU (6-3), the Tigers stopped Alabama on fourth down in the second quarter, then turned the ball over on the very next play.
Later, Garrett Nussmeier threw a brutal interception in the red zone to foil a scoring opportunity, one of Nussmeier’s three turnovers.
The less said the better about LSU’s miserable defense.
Last season, Milroe ran for 155 yards in a toppling of LSU.
He was just stretching his legs. He rushed for 185 in this encore with four touchdowns.
Kelly changed defensive coordinators after last season, but he didn’t solve LSU’s porous defense.
Milroe juked and sprinted 39 yards for a touchdown on Alabama’s opening drive, then danced a jig in the end zone.
Later, he raced 72 yards for a score and kept running until he reached the edge of the crowd, where he could high-five a young Alabama fan in a crimson hoodie.
All grins for the Tide.
DeBoer and Milroe engineered an Alabama revival, while it gets a little warm under Kelly’s collar.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all of his columns.