Joe Burrow has out-dueled Tua Tagovailoa and No. 2 LSU leads No. 3 Alabama 33-13 at the half in Tuscaloosa -- with the chance to add to it when the second half begins.
Burrow has been nothing short of masterful, hitting 18-of-20 throws for 252 yards and three touchdowns while running eight times for a team-high 31 yards. Tagovailoa threw for 172 yards and a score, but also committed two turnovers that turned into two LSU touchdowns.
Alabama accepted the ball to open the game and rolled to the LSU 8-yard line until Tagovailoa fumbled the ball, recovered by LSU’s Ray Thornton. The Tigers promptly roared out of the gate, needing only 62 plays to move 92 yards, the final 33 on a strike from Burrow to J’Marr Chase.
Another Alabama fumble -- this one by punter Ty Perine on a bobbled snap -- giving LSU the ball at Alabama’s 40 with a 7-0 lead and a chance to deliver an early haymaker. Instead, Alabama’s defense limited the Tigers to a 40-yard Cade York field goal and then delivered a haymaker of its own in the form of a 72-yard Jaylen Waddle punt return touchdown.
LSU immediately answered, though, moving 75 yards in eight plays and scoring on a 29-yard toss from Burrow to Terrace Marshall, Jr. York’s PAT was blocked, though, and LSU’s lead sat at 16-7 not even two minutes into the second quarter.
After a pair of scoreless drives, Alabama’s offense finally joined the game when DeVonta Smith streaked past LSU’s freshman All-American corner Derek Stingley, Jr. -- who was looking to the sideline at the snap -- for a 64-yard touchdown. Joseph Bulovas‘s PAT pushed wide right, keeping LSU’s lead at three with 6:43 to go in the second quarter.
After a York field goal pushed LSU’s lead to six and a Crimson Tide three-and-out, the Tigers took over at its own 39 with 2:39 left in the first half. LSU played the drive beautifully, keyed by a 16-yard connection to Thaddeus Moss where he stepped out of bounds, stepped back in and then snared the ball with his arm stretching practically to Birmingham, which put the ball at Alabama’s 1. Clyde Edwards-Helaire soared in three plays later, putting LSU up 26-13 with 26 ticks left in the first half.
Ed Orgeron and company would have been thrilled to take a 13-point lead into the locker room until Patrick Queen intercepted Tagovailoa on the next snap which, when paired with an unnecessary roughness penalty on Alabama offensive lineman Landon Dickerson, gave LSU the ball at Alabama’s 13 with 11 seconds left before halftime. They needed only five, as Burrow found Edwards-Helaire for a touchdown.
And that’s not all. LSU will receive to open the second half.