Live Gameday Updates/Thread: LSU Football vs No. Alabama
Fourth Quarter
Bryce Young replaces Mac Jones at quarterback. Robinson has also taken the brunt of the carries from Harris in the second half.
LSU defense does hold Alabama to another field goal attempt. Tigers have held firm in the redzone tonight.
Scoring Update: Alabama 55, LSU 17
Third Quarter
LSU opens the third quarter at the 32-yard line.
LSU offense opens with a three-and-out. Third one of those tonight as the offense has stalled after a nice start to the game
Shoestring tackle by Micah Baskerville likely saved a touchdown just now. LSU defense gets off the field as Jones can't hit Smith deep for the first time tonight.
Fourth straight three-and-out for the LSU offense, hasn't scored since the early second quarter.
Jay Ward forces a fumble and it's recovered by Stingley. Highlight of the night for the LSU defense . Still no points in this second half which is also a positive.
Arik Gilbert gets a catch but it's taken away by Alabama on the tackle. First-and-10 Alabama.
Najee Harris scores touchdown No. 3 on the evening. He and Devonta Smith both with three touchdowns.
Scoring Update: Alabama 52, LSU 14
Max Johnson in at quarterback for the Tigers.
Half: Alabama 45, LSU 14
Crimson Tide hang 470 yards of offense in the first half, score touchdowns on six of seven possessions.
Devonta Smith with a 219-yard, three touchdown first half.
Cade York drills a 52-yard field goal to get LSU on the board in the second half
Scoring Update: Alabama 52, LSU 17.
Second Quarter
LSU trails 21-0 after one quarter. Mac Jones has yet to throw an incompletion and Najee Harris has two touchdowns and is averaging 8.1 yards per carry
Career day for Kayshon Boutte. Finley hits him for a 43-yard touchdown. Fumbled at the one and Kirklin was lucky to fall on that one for the touchdown.
Nearly another devastating mistake made at the end of that play.
Scoring Update: Alabama 21, LSU 7
Devonta Smith gets behind the LSU secondary for an easy 65-yard score. Looked like some miscommunication between Flott and Stingley who end up battling each other more than Smith at the end of that route.
Scoring Update: Alabama 28, LSU 7
Jaray Jenkins down. He was totally defenseless on that hit as Daniel Wright is called for targeting Play being reviewed. Wright is ejected and Jenkins is up, walking off on his own power.
John Emery. See ya. Nice hole opens up for the sophomore who takes it 54 yards down the sideline. Great block by Rosenthal which sprung Emery on that run and Boutte also with some great down field blocking.
Scoring Update: Alabama 28, LSU 14
Devonta Smith breaks free for another big touchdown on Cordale Flott More bad news, Derek Stingley down in serious pain.
Stingley has to be helped off the field with a leg injury. LSU has given up three touchdowns on last nine plays from scrimmage.
Scoring Update: Alabama 35, LSU 14
LSU's offensive line having a nice bounce back first half. Emery takes a 20-yard gain to the 45, his second big run in a row.
TJ Finley forced up in the pocket is stripped and fumbled. He's able to recover but LSU offense off the field. LSU getting put in third-and-long is almost a guaranteed punt or worse.
Derek Stingley is back in the game. Tigers have forced Alabama into a 3rd-and-10. Attack Bo Pelini all you want but three offsides penalties in the first half, all on third downs is inexcusable
Jones connects with Smith for a 48-yard gain and Alabama is inside the LSU redzone. LSU gets a redzone stop on defense. So five touchdowns and a field goal will be Alabama's first six offensive possessions.
Scoring Update: Alabama 38, LSU 14
LSU goes three-and-out for second straight possession. That's the opposite of what the Tigers' need with Alabama scoring on every drive.
Alabama up to 450 total yards in this opening half. On the doorsteps of another touchdown as well.
Devonta Smith might've just pulled down the catch of the year For another touchdown, right over Derek Stingley. Smith now up to 219 yards and three touchdowns in the first half.
Scoring Update: Alabama 45, LSU 14
First Quarter
LSU has won the toss and elected to defer. Let's get this thing started. Kickoff in 90 seconds.
Avery Atkins takes the opening kick out of the endzone. Crimson Tide take over at the 25-yard line.
Two plays, 20 yards for Alabama as an eight-yard completion is followed by a 12-yard carry for Najee Harris.
Big hit from JaCoby Stevens on Devonta Smith that's being checked out for targeting. Call is no targeting on Stevens
No targeting on Stevens but it was close to the rule. Tigers force a third-and-short and will call a timeout to discuss.
Early opportunity for the defense to get off the field and Neil Farrell hit with an offsides. Not what you want out of a timeout.
Jones follows up with a 25-yard gain to Metchie. Crimson Tide in the LSU redzone .
Najee Harris 14-yard touchdown and Alabama strikes first. He ducked in and out of about five Tigers' defenders on that run. Crimson Tide averaged about 10 yards per play on that opening drive.
Scoring Update: Alabama 7, LSU 0
TJ Finley and company take over at the 25 going for the answer. LSU going with quick hitters early and Finley completes a first down pass to Kayshon Boutte.
Arik Gilbert then follows suit with a first down reception. Nice start by this LSU offense.
LSU going at Arik GIlbert early. Two catches on this opening drive for 25 yards .
Tigers just outside of the Bama 20-yard line. Boutte also with a pair of catches. LSU calls second timeout of first half with 8:51 to go in first quarter.
Tre Bradford indeed staying out there on this first drive. Orgeron mentioned early in the season about his explosiveness out of the backfield.
Davis-Price third-down run being reviewed. Ball marked short but looks like LSU was planning to go for it either way. Tone setting drive early in this game.
TJ Finley sneak? Nope. Davis-Price stuffed behind the line and Alabama takes over on downs.
Two plays later, Alabama is down to the LSU 15. 27-yard completion followed by a long run from Harris . Elias Ricks has also entered the injury tent.
15 more is tacked on because of a late hit by JaCoby Stevens.
LSU defensive tackle Jacobian Guillory is down after a goal line stop on Najee Harris.
Wow. Momentum shift. LSU forces a fumble at the goal line and recovered for a touchback . Big momentum swing here if review proves true.
Not sure there's enough to overturn this one, though Harris could very well also have a touchdown here. Najee Harris second touchdown of the evening
Call is reversed. Tigers trail by two scores in the first quarter.
Scoring Update: Alabama 14, LSU 0
Ed Orgeron said one of the big goals was to start fast. That fourth down stuff on the first LSU possession was costly
Little resistance from the LSU defense in this first quarter. Offense goes three and out and this game has entered danger territory 10 minutes in. Finley was looking to throw deep but just took the sack. That was improvement in his biggest weakness this season, protecting the ball.
Busted play in the secondary and LSU finds itself in a 20-0 first quarter hole. Billingsley was just left wiiiiide open.
Scoring Update: Alabama 21, LSU 0
LSU offense started inside its own 10 but a couple of quick completions and a roughing the passer call has the Tigers up to the 42-yard line.
Pregame
LSU enters tonight's matchup as the biggest underdogs for a defending national champ in 40 years. No. 1 Alabama is 29.5 point favorites against a Tigers' squad that has prepared this week without its best player.
Terrace Marshall has opted out of the rest of 2020, leaving a serious hole to fill within the offense. Who will step up? Well, on the depth chart, the Tigers list freshmen Koy Moore and Kayshon Boutte as the starters with Jontre Kirklin and Jaray Jenkins backing up the two freshmen.
TJ Finley will draw the start at quarterback and Arik Gilbert at tight end which means all of the receiver weapons will be true freshmen, a far cry from this matchup a season ago.
Alabama comes in rife with experience, headlined by Heisman candidate Mac Jones at quarterback, Najee Harris at running back and Devonta Smith at wide receiver. The matchup between Smith and LSU cornerback Derek Stingley will be an intriguing one to follow.
Other storylines to follow will be the improvement of the offensive line and whether or not the line can protect Finley and get the run game off the ground.
"We worked very hard on eliminating free blitzes coming through," Orgeron said. "Alabama always does a good job of protection so we're gonna have to make adjustments throughout the game. Our quarterbacks, our center are gonna have to see it."
The LSU captains this week are Tory Carter, Glen Logan, Avery Atkins, Micah Baskerville and Jontre Kirklin.
Atmosphere is nothing like what we've come to expect from this game. Slow stream starting to pack in for tonight's game.
One half of the SEC Championship game has been decided as Florida has punched its ticket to Atlanta. Alabama can clinch the West with a win over the Tigers tonight.
Alabama coach Nick Saban just hours before the game: "[LSU] beat us last year, so they probably has some confidence that they can play well against Alabama. We’re going to have to change the way they think when it comes to that.”
Dare Rosenthal is getting the first team reps at left tackle Expect the Tigers to continue to rotate Rosenthal with Cam Wire throughout the night. Elias Ricks will start opposite Derek Stingley Jr. at cornerback with Cordale Flott moving to the nickel spot.
Wide receiver Racey McMath is in sweats as expected. He'll be out tonight vs the No. 1 team in the country battling a hamstring injury. Trey Palmer is warming up and looks to be good to go.
