Leavitt is the bigger story on the other side, and the box score isn't kind to him. He came in completing 75.4% of his passes, with 387 yards and 4 total touchdowns at Auburn. This time LSU finished with 13 points. Its only touchdown came in a 10-point 3rd quarter that cut the lead to 17-13 and gave the crowd some life. LSU didn't score again. The search didn't turn up Leavitt's individual line from this game, but the scoreboard says enough: an offense that put 34 on Kentucky and 38 on Auburn got shut out in the 2nd quarter and the 4th.
The weather wasn't a factor in either direction. It was 76 degrees and partly cloudy at kickoff with an 8 mph wind and no rain, so both quarterbacks had a clean afternoon to throw. That makes 13 points harder to explain away. LSU's offense stalled in good conditions, and the defense that shut out Mississippi State gave up 31 to a short-handed Alabama attack.
The 4th quarter decided it. LSU's 3rd-quarter run made it a 1-score game going into the final 15 minutes, which was the closest the Tigers got to taking control in front of their own crowd. Alabama answered with 2 touchdowns and gave up nothing. Those 14 straight points turned a tight game into an 18-point road win. It's the same finish the Tide had against Texas A&M, where they also scored 14 unanswered late.
The preview asked whether LSU's secondary, without starting safety D. Spears since September, could hold up against a team better than McNeese. Alabama's 31 points, 21 of them after halftime, answer that. Alabama is now 7-2 and 5-2 in the SEC and has won 2 straight since back-to-back losses to Georgia and Tennessee. LSU falls to 6-3 and 3-3 in the conference after a home loss in the game it most needed.
McNeese63-14The preview called this one of the best games of the November slate, and it was for about 45 minutes. After that it became an Alabama statement game. A sophomore quarterback with a depleted receiving group won comfortably in Tiger Stadium, and LSU's offense went quiet when it needed points.
