Keelon Russell passed for 206 yards and three touchdowns while Alabama’s defense repeatedly turned away LSU as the No. 5 Crimson Tide claimed a 31-13 Southeastern Conference victory over the No. 14 Tigers on Saturday in Baton Rouge, La.
Ryan Coleman-Williams added a touchdown run and a key punt return for the Crimson Tide (7-2, 5-2 SEC).
Sam Leavitt completed 35 of 47 passes for 380 yards but no touchdowns for the Tigers (6-3, 3-3), who gave up the game’s final 21 points. LSU had two drives stopped inside Alabama’s 10-yard line and two others halted at the Crimson Tide’s 36.
LSU received the second-half kickoff and drove for Scott Starzyk’s 41-yard field goal to trim Alabama’s lead to 10-6. Dilin Jones ran 5 yards for a touchdown with 2:44 left in the third that gave the Tigers their only lead of the game, 13-10.
On the first play after the ensuing kickoff, Russell threw a 57-yard completion to Rico Scott. Four plays after that, Russell threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Josh Ford to give the Tide a 17-13 lead with 36 seconds left in the third.
LSU responded by driving to the Alabama 36, but Leavitt threw an incompletion on fourth-and-3.
Three minutes later, Coleman-Williams returned a punt 32 yards to the Tigers’ 25. On the next play, Russell tossed a touchdown pass to Cederian Morgan to extend the lead to 24-13 with 9:44 left.
LSU turned the ball over on downs at its own 18, which set up Russell’s 4-yard touchdown strike to Kaleb Edwards to close out the scoring.
Alabama received the opening kickoff and drove for Conor Talty’s 43-yard field goal. LSU responded on the ensuing possession with Starzyk’s 23-yard field goal for a 3-3 tie that held up through the end of the first quarter.
On the first play of the second quarter, Starzyk was wide left on a 56-yard field-goal attempt. The Tide took advantage by driving to Coleman-Williams’ 1-yard touchdown run to take a 10-3 lead.
The Tigers reached the Alabama 9-yard line on the next possession, but Leavitt’s pass was batted down on fourth-and-4.
LSU marched to Alabama’s 36 on its next possession, but Leavitt was intercepted by Luke Metz as Alabama preserved its 10-3 halftime lead.