Surging Tide: Alabama Re-emerges as Legit CFP Contender with Win Over LSU

With its most complete performance of the season, Alabama proved why it is worthy of a top-12 ranking.

Emmanuel Henderson celebrates in Tiger Stadium / Alabama Athletics

BATON ROUGE, La.–– Jalen Milroe's night ended the same way it began: running through the end zone. The final time though was in celebration with the Alabama student section after the game clock hit 0:00.

The Alabama quarterback was back playing at his peak level with four rushing touchdowns and zero turnovers as the No. 11 Crimson Tide rolled over No. 15 LSU, 42-13 in Death Valley on Saturday night. And with the performance, Alabama (7-2, 4-2 SEC) is back where it was after Milroe's last jubilant postgame celebration over Georgia–– in serious contention for the College Football Playoff.

It isn't supposed to be easy to win in Tiger Stadium at night. While Nick Saban won six of eight games at LSU over his career as the Alabama head coach, several of those games came down to the wire, required a comeback or needed overtime to determine a winner. The Crimson Tide dominated the Tigers for four quarters on Saturday night in Kalen DeBoer's first trip to Death Valley.

"Super proud of the guys," DeBoer said after the game. "The way they prepared I think led them to a place where they had some pretty good confidence coming in. Just felt like the energy was there all week long, and as the week progressed, you could just feel that we were on top of our game and understood what it would take to come in here and play four quarters. And I felt like that was probably the most complete game we’ve played."

With an extra week of rest and preparation, Alabama was able to shake off some of the demons that had plagued the team on the road so far in SEC play this season. The Crimson Tide didn't turn the ball over, limited pre-snap penalties and managed the crowd noise better, ran the ball at will, got off the field when it mattered on third down and got off to a quick start.

DeBoer said Alabama was able to learn from what happened at Tennessee and grow from it.

Alabama's season could have been in shambles after suffering a second straight road loss at Tennessee on Oct. 19, but the Crimson Tide has bounced back with two of its most complete performances of the season with the dominating victory at LSU and a shutout victory over Missouri two weeks ago.

DeBoer said Alabama hasn't done enough this season yet to be complacent or overconfident in any way, but when the team is able to stack days and practice, they can play with swagger.

"I feel like by swagger, he meant confidence, and the more you know what to do, the better you improve during the week, the more confidence you’re going to have on game day," Alabama captain and starting left guard Tyler Booker said. "Preparation is key. The better you prepare, the more confidence you’re going to have on game day. You’re not going to have any anxiety. Do what we’re here to do and play a game. At the end of the day, this is a game. We have to have fun playing football. The more confident you are, the more fun you’re going to have. We had a whole lot of fun tonight.”

Milroe struggled with turnovers and mistakes in both losses at Vanderbilt and Tennessee and appeared visibly rattled at times in Neyland Stadium. But the Alabama quarterback was cool, calm and collected from the opening drive on Saturday night against the Tigers and set a new career high with 185 rushing yards. It also marked the second straight season Milroe has rushed for four touchdowns against LSU.

If Milroe continues putting out Heisman-level performances, it will only increase Alabama's chances of returning to the CFP for the fourth time in the last five years.

"We have to separate our minds from being hungry to being starving," Milroe said. "We only want guys starving in our locker room who constantly want to get better and do what's best for our team. The best thing we showed today is how well our team complimented each other. Defense and offense clicked to do what was best for the team."

The Crimson Tide's coaches and players talked all week about needing to start fast against LSU and shut up the crowd. The Tigers won the toss and deferred to the second half, which allowed Milroe and the offense to go to work right away. Alabama put together an eight-play, 75-yard drive capped by Milroe's first rushing touchdown of the night to give the Tide the early lead, and the team never looked back.

It looked like LSU was going to answer right away when a 50-yard kickoff return and 45-yard rush set the Tigers up inside the Alabama red zone with a chance to tie the game. Instead, Jihaad Campbell had his first big play of the game on a pass breakup on third-and-goal to force LSU to settle for a field goal. And then LSU wasn't able to find the end zone until there were 11 seconds left in the game, when it was already well in Alabama's control.

And with the big win over the Tigers, Alabama remains in control of its own destiny.

Ole Miss beating Georgia earlier in the day created more chaos in the SEC and opened up a possible path for Alabama back to the SEC Championship game. While the potential extra game could hurt the Crimson Tide's chance if it loses, it could also secure an automatic spot and first-round bye in the CFP with a win in the SEC title game.

If the first two weekends of November have shown anything, it's that the hunt for a national champion is more wide open than any time in recent memory, especially with the expanded 12-team field. Alabama's path forward is clear: win and you're in. The remaining three regular season games are winnable (Mercer, at Oklahoma, Auburn), but the Crimson Tide can't grow complacent.

"You can see slowly the little things coming together, and we’ve got to reload it all and do it all over again," DeBoer said. "Do it this week, back it up, keep improving. But it does make you feel good to see the progress that maybe is happening at practice, but it doesn’t show up in games. And now it’s starting to show up in the big moments.”

Read more: What Kalen DeBoer Said After Alabama Football Dominated LSU on Road

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