LSU-Bama matchup magnified sharp contrasts in "consistency," "purpose" in ground game

A laundry list of discrepancies between Alabama’s and LSU’s performances Saturday pop off the stat sheet and the film.

But, overall, Brian Kelly tied the bulk of those aspects back to a centralized theme — consistency — that has been heavily referenced and equally elusive throughout the Tigers’ up-and-down season.

“(The Crimson Tide) did a really good job of self-scouting and making a decision of who they were going to be in this game,” Kelly said. “They came out with a purpose in wanting to control the line of scrimmage, which they did, ran the football effectively, obviously, and were consistent in what they did. We were inconsistent, and that really is the difference.

“So when you’re scratching your head or you’re thinking about what happened in this game, you had a really good football team in Alabama that went back in the bye week and said, ‘You know what, this is who we’re going to be.’ They came out and were consistent in what they wanted to be in this game, took care of the football, controlled the line of scrimmage. And our response was that we were inconsistent.”

Kelly’s assessment covered a lot of bases, such as the differences in third-down efficiency, turnovers, missed opportunities and more.

But few areas remained under as much scrutiny in the wake of the 42-13 home loss to the Crimson Tide as the contrast in the abilities and commitments to establish a rushing attack on offense or stop one on defense.

For the second straight game and second straight loss, the Tigers appeared helpless as an opposing quarterback gashed them for one touchdown run after another, while they themselves fell shy of their own hopes to move the football on the ground.

LSU rushed for just 24 yards on 23 carries against Texas A&M two weeks ago, a startlingly low efficiency and less than half what the Aggies received from back-up quarterback Marcel Reed alone after he entered the game midway through the third quarter.

Following a bye week for both teams, Alabama touched up the Tigers for 311 yards on 48 carries behind quarterback Jalen Milroe’s 185 yards and four scores on 12 carries.

Even buoyed primarily by one 45-yard run by freshman Caden Durham, LSU ran half as many times (24) for one-third the yardage (104) against the Crimson Tide defense ranked third-to-last in the SEC in containing the run.

The margin stretching to three scores late in the third quarter and four early in the fourth played a role in those final numbers, as well, but Kelly admitted he still would’ve liked to have seen the Tigers stick a bit more with the run game.

“I would’ve liked to have been a little bit more with the outside zone,” he said. “I mean, look, I’m not here to sit here and critique the entire game plan, but we got behind, 35-6, there and you’ve got to get back into it pretty quickly, and we probably got outside the running game a little bit quicker than I would’ve liked. We would’ve liked to have been more consistent with the run game, and the game itself, in terms of what happened in the fourth quarter, had to throw it a little bit too much. But the mantra moving forward and what we want to be is it’s gotta be more consistency to the run game. And as I mentioned, (offensive coordinator Joe Sloan) knows that, and he knows what I want from him.”

Kelly responded to early-season questions about the run game by referencing opposing defenses stuffing the box and leaving LSU better served to take advantage of opportunities through the air.

In more recent weeks, he’s been more emphatic on the Tigers’ need to establish more success on the ground, even as they appeared to show strides in an Oct. 19 win at Arkansas.

“It’s beginning to pay off,” Kelly said following their best SEC rushing performance. “And we need that running game for us to continue to have the balance we need on offense.”

But LSU’s rush attempts and yardage in back-to-back losses to Texas A&M and Alabama have all been among their lower totals for the season — a shortcoming further underscored by the Aggies and Crimson Tide each enjoying one of their best run games of the season those nights.

Kelly brushed aside a question Monday asking his evaluation of Sloan thus far this season. The coach said, as he has regarding other assistants the past two seasons, he doesn’t evaluate coordinators during the season.

“I think everybody gets a chance to second-guess a play call here or there,” he said. “That’s the nature of the business, right? What we want to be is more consistent in the running game. And I think I’ve made that clear, and we’ve got to clearly do that. Joe understands that. And so the focus has been and it was going into this game to create more opportunities in the run game. I thought we did that. We need to do more of it. I thought we created more misdirection within the offense. We need to do more of it.

“So sequencing the run game with the passing game is absolutely crucial so we can take some of the pressure, as I’ve mentioned in other press conferences, off of (quarterback Garrett) Nussmeier, so we don’t throw it 50 times. We need more balance within the offense.”

LSU is still searching for that balance or consistency with three games remaining in the 12-game regular season, after watching back-to-back opponents come into matchups and dictate it in one fashion or another.

Kelly remains optimistic the Tigers can and will do so as they strive to reach their own standard and chase a third-straight 10-win season since he arrived to Baton Rouge.

LSU travels this weekend to Florida, its only SEC opponent this season allowing more rushing yardage than Alabama.

“I think it’s reasonable to look at how we can put our players in better positions to succeed each and every week,” Kelly said. “You always are gonna have to deal with injuries within your roster, and you have to have the next man up mentality. But that doesn’t mean you can’t as coaches alway look to how you can be better at getting your players to be the best versions of themselves. So what do we have to do to help Nuss, and that’s run the ball better. That’s going to be something that can happen right away.”