Alabama stakes claim to SEC West with domination of LSU
So much for Alabama being overrated in the College Football Playoff rankings, eh?
After much of the discussion in the days after the first rankings of 2015 centered around how the Tide was possibly ranked too high at No. 4, Alabama dominated every facet of the game against No. 2 LSU on Saturday in a 30-16 win.
The Tide held Heisman front-runner running back Leonard Fournette to 31 yards rushing on 19 carries and clearly wanted to force LSU quarterback Brandon Harris to beat them. It worked. Harris finished the game 6 of 19 for 128 yards and a touchdown and an interception. The interception, which started the third quarter, was Harris' first of the season.
As Fournette was bottled up, Alabama running back Derrick Henry gashed LSU's run defense. Henry put the Crimson Tide up 20-10 in the third quarter and added another touchdown to make it 27-10 to put the game out of reach.
Henry had 38 carries for 210 yards and three scores and will likely be in the Heisman conversation alongside Fournette in the near future. The 38 carries were six more than Henry had three weeks ago against Texas A&M when he set a previous career high.
LSU tied the game at 10 late in the second quarter, but the score was a bit of a mirage. With Fournette locked up by Alabama's defense, it felt that the Tigers had merely survived the first half rather than played the Tide close to evenly.
The win gives Alabama a clear path to the SEC West Division title and a matchup with Florida in the SEC championship game. The Tide now has the tiebreaker over LSU. And Ole Miss, the team that beat Alabama, has two SEC losses after losing to Arkansas earlier in the day.
LSU's West hopes now hinge on an Alabama loss to either Mississippi State or Auburn. And since Ole Miss lost, the CFP committee has a much easier time deciphering the SEC moving forward. As long as it has control of the division, Alabama will be the SEC's top-ranked team and likely in the top four.
Where will the Tide be in Tuesday's next set of rankings? Our guess is at No. 2, right behind Clemson, which beat Florida State on Saturday. The Tide will pass LSU and possibly jump Ohio State, which beat Minnesota 28-14 at home.
For more Alabama news, visit TideSports.com.
For more LSU news, visit Tigerbait.com.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
