BATON ROUGE — Fourth-ranked Alabama forced overtime with a 27-yard field goal with three seconds left in regulation then scored a go-ahead 6-yard touchdown in the extra period to hand No. 14 LSU a rare Saturday night loss in Tiger Stadium, 20-13.
LSU (7-3, 3-3 SEC), which lost for only the fourth time under coach Les Miles at home on Saturday night, looked to control the game when linebacker Kendell Beckwithbrecovered a T.J. Yeldon fumble at the Alabama 6-yard line with only 73 seconds.
A personal foul on the first play of the drive moved the ball to the Alabama 21, and the Tigers were forced to settle for a 39-yard Colby Delahoussaye field goal with 50 seconds left to take a 13-10 lead.
After the ensuing kickoff went out of bounds, Alabama (8-1, 5-1 SEC) – with no timeouts – started a nine-play, 55-yard drive at its 35 and mythodically marched into the LSU red zone and knotted the game at 13-13 with three seconds remaining.
In overtime, LSU won the coin toss and elected to start on defense. On the first play of overtime, Alabama quarterback Blake Sims looked across the middle for sophomore tight end Brandon Greene, who made the first catch of his Alabama career for 24 yards inside LSU 1. A personal foul moved the Tide back to the 15, but Alabama gained a first down with three runs. On second-and-goal from the LSU 6, Sims connected with wide receiver DeAndrew White for the go-ahead touchdown.
On LSU’s overtime possession, the Tigers threw four incomplete passes to end the game.
The sour ending spoiled an otherwise terrific showing by the Tigers, who outgained Alabama 315-259 and had a 38:16-21:44 advantage in time of possession.
The LSU defense forced seven three-and-out drives, nine punts and a fumble that looked to put the Tigers in position for victory.
LSU had 56 rushes for 183 net yards, as freshman running back Leonard Fournette led the way with 21 carries and 79 yards. Quarterback Anthony Jennings added 40 net rushing yards, while Terrence Magee had 29 yards on 12 carries.
Jennings was 8-of-26 passing for 76 yards including a 14-yard touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver Malachi Dupre that put LSU ahead 7-0 late in the first quarter.
The Tigers return to action Saturday, Nov. 15, when they travel to face Arkansas for a 7 p.m. CT kickoff in Fayetteville. The game will be televised by ESPN2 and broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network beginning with the pregame show at 5 p.m.
Despite an advantage of 102-7 in third quarter total offense, LSU added only a Delahoussaye 35-yard field goal that tied the game at 10-10 in the third quarter.
Alabama’s Sims was 20-of-45 passing for 209 yards including touchdowns of 23 yards to Amari Cooper and six yards to White in overtime. Yeldon led the way with 68 net rushing yards on 15 carries, while Cooper caught eight passes for 83 yards.
Each team punted nine times and each had one turnover that led to the others’ field goals.
— Staff Reports
