Fourth-down flops doom LSU in 'really disappointing' loss to Alabama

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  Alex ScarboroughNov 7, 2026, 09:07 PM ET

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  • Covers the SEC.
  • Joined ESPN in 2012.
  • Graduate of Auburn University.

BATON ROUGE, La. -- No. 14 LSU out-gained No. 5 Alabama by 172 yards but was undone by poor red-zone and fourth-down offense, losing at home, 31-13, and dropping to 6-3 on the season.

Tigers coach Lane Kiffin said he the outcome was "really disappointing."

LSU was 0-4 on fourth downs -- the most attempts without a conversion in Kiffin's career. His offense made four red zone trips and came away with only one touchdown and one field goal.

"I was looking at a sheet and it said Sam [Leavitt] had 380 yards passing and Jackson Harris had 11 for 166 [receiving] and Trey'Dez [Green] had 10 for 85 [receiving], I wouldn't think that would equal 13 points," he added. "But you got to score touchdowns in the red zone."

Kiffin was asked what's keeping his team from making winning plays.

"I don't know," he said. "We had a chance."

LSU made a stop and took the lead late in the third quarter. But then it gave up a 32-yard punt return to Ryan Coleman-Williams. The next play, Keelon Russell found Cederian Morgan for a 25-yard touchdown.

If they hadn't scored, Kiffin said, "It might be really different."

But Alabama outscored LSU, 21-0, to close out the game.

Now the Tigers, a preseason favorite to compete for the national championship, have three losses and might be out of the playoff race.

LSU's chances to make the playoff fell from 51% to 25% after the loss, according to the Allstate Playoff Predictor.

Kiffin was asked whether he thought his team would be 6-3 at this point in the season.

"No, I did not think that," he said, "but it is where we are, and we can't change that. So, we got to go back to work. Don't have time to sit around and feel bad. Got a top-10 team coming in here in Texas.

"It's one thing, probably the one good thing about playing these types of teams in a row like this, 'Hey, you got a chance to play another national game and get back on track.'"

The only silver lining Kiffin could find was the total offensive production -- 457 yards in all. He said he went for it on fourth down so often in large part because he felt going into the game that field goals wouldn't be enough to win.

Special teams were a problem for LSU. There was Coleman-Williams return but also a missed field goal from 56 yards out.

"Yeah, not a really good special team today," Kiffin said. "We missed the field goal early. Didn't help early scoring minimize and then the punt return and the drop punt at the end too. So not a very good day there."

LSU's defense gave up 206 yards and three touchdowns through the air from Russell. Alabama's second-year quarterback also rushed the ball eight times for 37 yards.

"I though he played really well right from the beginning," Kiffin said of Russell. "Had a hard time getting him on the ground and catching him and he outran us a number of times for first down, really critical plays. I thought we had a lot of stuff covered at times throughout the game and we did really well in the pass coverage. And then he took off and ran, and he was really good.

"I said all week, if you don't get him to the ground and let him extend plays, he plays really well."