BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU coach Brian Kelly repeatedly blamed himself for a 42-13 loss to Alabama on Saturday night, a defeat that almost certainly ended any hope of a College Football Playoff berth for the Tigers.
They dropped to 6-3 overall and 3-2 in SEC play as Kelly acknowledged they face an uphill climb if they want any shot at a conference title.
When asked how he and the team will approach the last three weeks knowing a CFP berth is now a long shot, Kelly said, “We’re disappointed in the way we performed. These guys are not like, ‘Hey, we’re out of the playoffs.’ They’re disappointed. And I’m disappointed that we didn’t live up to the standards of LSU football. That affects us more than the damn playoffs.
“When you put on a jersey for LSU, there’s a standard of football that those three letters on your jersey — it’s a prerequisite, and we didn’t live up to that. That’s the disappointment.”
LSU had an open date to prepare for the matchup against Alabama yet struggled to slow down quarterback Jalen Milroe and made costly mistakes on offense that allowed the game to get out of reach. Milroe has run through the LSU defense in consecutive campaigns now — rushing for 185 yards and four touchdowns on Saturday after rushing for 155 yards in a 42-28 win over the Tigers last season. Milroe finished with more rushing yards than passing yards (109) this time around.
The Tigers have struggled to contain rushing quarterbacks this season. In a loss to Texas A&M their last time out, backup quarterback Marcel Reed replaced Conner Weigman and ran for 62 yards and three touchdowns for the Aggies to lead a comeback victory.
“If you’re watching the game, you’re like, ‘What did these guys do for two weeks?'” Kelly said of his team. “We have a scheme to stop the quarterback. We did not get that done, so I take responsibility for it. But we also have to put our players in the right position too to take advantage of what they’re capable of doing. So, we own it together, and we’ve got to get it fixed, because it’s been a couple of weeks now.”
Kelly, however, would not get into too many specifics when asked what needs to change defensively.
“We’re not reinventing the wheel when it comes to defending the quarterback,” Kelly said. “There’s only a couple of ways to defend them. We have to be able to get our players — we’re not trading any of them. There’s no waiver wire. We’re not bringing anybody up from the demo squad. We’ve got to come up with the right answers on what works best for the guys that we have, and it hasn’t worked very well these last couple of games.”
LSU linebacker Greg Penn III said he thought the Tigers had a good game plan to stop Milroe coming into the game.
“Obviously, he has great speed, and we can’t really account for that in practice or on film until you are in the game,” Penn said. “He is just a great player. I thought our game plan was really good, but they just went out there and executed better than us.”
LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier struggled to get the Tigers into the end zone, particularly in crucial moments. Late in the second quarter while down 14-6, LSU stopped Alabama on fourth-and-short. But on the next play, Nussmeier was sacked and fumbled. Alabama recovered, and three plays later Milroe scored on a 10-yard run to give the Crimson Tide a 21-6 lead.
To open the third quarter, the Tigers drove down the field to try to get themselves back in the game. But Nussmeier threw an interception in the end zone from the 4-yard line. Milroe scored again on the ensuing drive to make it 28-6 and essentially put the game out of reach.
Nussmeier ended up with three turnovers. He now has six turnovers in his past two outings.
Turnovers hurt, but so do penalties.
On that decisive third-quarter Alabama scoring drive, LSU thought it had a crucial third-down stop and sack on Milroe. But officials called a face mask penalty that LSU fans took issue with after watching it on the videoboard, with some throwing debris on the field.
“If I was in the stands, I wouldn’t be happy,” Kelly said. “I’m not advocating that you throw anything on the field. But I think it’s like any other venue: I think you should use good judgment. But I wouldn’t be happy if I was watching us play, either. I wasn’t pleased with the way I coached or played, either.”
As for Alabama (7-2, 4-2), the victory keeps it in the hunt for a playoff berth. Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer called it “probably the most complete game we’ve played” and said Milroe has a “superpower” when it comes to running the football.
“Not just a guy who gets first downs but finishes in the end zone,” DeBoer said. “So, him doing what he did early on got the ball rolling there.”
As Alabama offensive lineman Tyler Booker added, “We sent the message to every team that Alabama can run the football. Even though it took us a couple of plays to get going, this is what we’re capable of every week.”
Milroe celebrated after the game with Alabama fans in the stands who made the trip. On the other end of the field, an LSU fan, clearly upset with the performance, was shouting that Kelly needed to find a way to leave Baton Rouge. LSU players said afterward they would find a way to regroup and refocus before playing at Florida next week. Kelly reiterated he will get back to work.
“The bottom line is, we didn’t play to the standard of LSU football,” Kelly said. “That’s on me. I’ve got to make sure that we put our players in better positions to succeed, and that’s the work I’ll do.”