No. 11 Alabama’s probabilities of making the School Soccer Playoff are very a lot alive after a 42-13 win over No. 15 LSU on Saturday evening.
Jalen Milroe rushed for 4 touchdowns because the LSU protection struggled in opposition to a operating quarterback for the second straight sport. Milroe opened the sport with a 39-yard TD after which broke the sport vast open within the fourth quarter with a 72-yard run.
Two weeks in the past, the LSU protection was caught fully off-guard by Texas A&M’s second-half quarterback change. Marcel Reed changed Conner Weigman because the Aggies scored TD drives on Reed’s first 4 possessions. Reed scored three of them himself on quarterback runs because the Aggies rushed for 242 yards.
Alabama clearly wished to check the LSU protection once more. Milroe’s potential to make magic occur together with his pace and escapability is a giant a part of the Alabama offense, and LSU had a tough time stopping the designed QB runs.
Milroe completed the sport with 185 speeding yards on simply 12 carries. He was in a position to watch the ultimate minutes from the bench due to the Crimson Tide’s large lead.
The loss is LSU’s third of the season and assuredly removes the Tigers from playoff competition. LSU opened the season with a loss to USC — a defeat that appears worse with each Trojans loss — and has a fantastic likelihood to win out. However a 9-3 season might be not going to be ok to get to the expanded postseason regardless.
Because the LSU protection couldn’t cease the run, the offense wasn’t explosive both. QB Garrett Nussmeier struggled on a wet evening in Baton Rouge with two interceptions. Nussmeier’s first choose got here on the primary drive of the second half as Alabama led 21-6.
The Tigers drove all the best way to Alabama’s 4-yard line, however Nussmeier’s move on second down was intercepted by Deontae Lawson on the objective line. It was the second journey contained in the Alabama 10-yard line for the Tigers and the second time they failed to attain a landing. Within the first half, LSU needed to kick a subject objective after attending to the Alabama 6.
Is Milroe again within the Heisman dialog?
There are 4 clear favorites for the Heisman via the primary 11 weeks of the season in Colorado’s Travis Hunter, Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, Miami’s Cam Ward and Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty. However Milroe has put himself again within the dialog together with his efficiency on Saturday evening and Alabama’s probabilities of successful the SEC.
It’s a logjam on the prime of the convention, however the Crimson Tide are nonetheless alive for the SEC title sport. And Milroe has stats that stack up effectively. He has 16 speeding touchdowns and has thrown 13 passing TDs. Solely two gamers — Ward and North Texas’ Chandler Morris — are chargeable for greater than 30 TDs this season.
It’s unlikely that Milroe will probably be lifting the Heisman Trophy on the finish of the season. However don’t write him off as a Heisman finalist.