Alabama-LSU television broadcast sets high bar

The Alabama Crimson Tide last Saturday played host to the LSU Tigers, with the home team favored by 28.5 points in a game no one expected to be close.

An early touchdown and a few stellar defensive stands later, LSU had made it a close ballgame; in fact, the Tigers led 7-0 in the first quarter after Alabama laid a blank, turning the contest into a back-and-forth showing that caused viewers across America to tune in. Alabama ended up winning just 20-14, and LSU had two chances late in the fourth quarter to score the go-ahead touchdown.

As more and more people tuned in, the Alabama-LSU broadcast on ESPN was able to set a new record: the game averaged five million viewers, making it the most-watched college football game on cable this year. The viewership also made it ESPN’s most-viewed college football game since Florida-LSU in October 2019.

The television ratings provided great news for ESPN partners, while the outcome — a loss — was less appealing for LSU head coach Ed Orgeron, who has said time and time again that he thought LSU was the better team at Alabama.

Ed Orgeron thinks LSU outplayed Alabama

After the loss, Orgeron was quick to defend his in-game decision-making on Saturday, and he even went so far as to say that LSU was the better team despite the loss.

“I still feel [we were the better team] after watching the film,” Orgeron said in LSU’s Monday afternoon press conference. “I thought our defense whooped their offense’s butt.”

LSU did not always look in position to compete with the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday, however. After Alabama’s 14-point second quarter, the Crimson Tide took a 14-7 lead into halftime, and Orgeron was forced to make significant defensive adjustments. Those defensive adjustments limited Alabama to just six second-half points, while creating a key late-game turnover. By relying on the blitz in the second half, Orgeron’s defense “whooped their offense’s butt.”

“We felt like we had to blitz. We felt like we had to be more diverse on defense,” Orgeron said of LSU’s halftime. “We worked our tails off last week. And I’ve got to give Coach Coyle, he’s a [defensive] analyst for us, he came up with those third-down blitzes in a couple of [big moments], and the one where we had the sack-fumble. He recommended it, we put it in. I’ve got to give the compliment to the defense; we had an adjustment period. I thought our defensive guys really, really got better during the day.”

The defense ultimately wasn’t enough, as LSU was unable to answer the calls. But Orgeron and his coaching staff was able to draw up a second-half gameplan that saw Alabama score just six points all half via two third-quarter field goals; they were scoreless for the entire fourth quarter.

Perhaps Saban could argue the same, though, as LSU scored just 14 points and turned the ball over twice in a losing effort. Even after the adjustments, Alabama’s offense still out-gained LSU, going for 308 yards of total offense compared to Orgeron’s 295.