Nick Saban during a Nov. 5, 2022 loss to LSU. Nov 5, 2022; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban looks on against the LSU Tigers during the first half at Tiger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports
College FootballBy Andrew Bucholtz on

Since the first season of the College Football Playoff in 2014-15, the Alabama Crimson Tide have been an almost-continuous presence. Their seven appearances in eight years lead all schools, one ahead of the Clemson Tigers (who are facing their own playoff perils this year following a 35-14 loss to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Saturday). Their only previous omission to date came in 2019-20, thanks in good part to a 46-41 home loss to the (eventual CFP champion) LSU Tigers. And LSU has now put Alabama in danger of missing the CFP again, with the 6-2 Tigers (#10 CFP, #15 AP) taking down the 7-1 Tide (#6 in both polls) 32-31 in overtime at home Saturday night. Here’s the gutsy call for a LSU two-point conversion that won it:

This one was a back-and-forth affair throughout. It saw a scoreless first quarter, LSU leading 7-6 at the half, and a 14-9 Tigers’ lead after three quarters, but a furious Tide rally to send it to overtime. Some incredible plays from Alabama quarterback Bryce Young (who finished with 25 completions on 51 attempts, 49.0 percent, for 328 yards with one touchdown and one interception) helped with that. Here’s one of those:

But while LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels didn’t throw for as many yards, he was much more efficient. He finished the night with 22 completions on 32 attempts (68.8 percent) for 182 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. And he was a huge rushing threat, finishing with 18 carries on the night for 95 yards and a touchdown, an average of 5.3 yards per carry, and the highest rushing total on his team. He also made some spectacular passing plays of his own, including the game-winning two-point conversion pass above and a late-game go-ahead TD pass:

A follow-up field goal from Alabama meant this did go to overtime, though. Even if that FG almost didn’t make it:

And in overtime, Alabama’s first drive produced plenty of controversy, thanks to a debate on if a ball was tipped or not (which would have nullified the pass interference call). That saw a lot of debate on Twitter as well, and even led to discussions in the ESPN booth:

In the end, though, that didn’t matter, with LSU scoring themselves on a TD run from Daniels.

And that then led to the above game-winning two-point conversion. Here’s LSU radio voice Chris Blair’s call of that:

This was LSU’s first night home win over Alabama since 1969, and it’s a huge result for both programs. It makes the Tide’s path towards the playoff incredibly hard. And it means there might still be playoff hope for the 7-2 Tigers. Even if they don’t get there, though, this was still a massive win for Brian Kelly in his first year at LSU, and an extremely rare SEC loss for Nick Saban (seen at top on the sidelines during this game).  And in an even more rare occurrence, it might lead to the Tide not making the playoff.

[ESPN; photo from Stephen Lew/USA Today Sports]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

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