Round 1 goes to LSU

TUSCALOOSA - Nick Saban physically felt the sting of a win against the No. 3 team in the country slipping away.

"My hands are bruised from smacking them together when we made mistakes," the Alabama coach said. "Sometimes there's no consequence until you do it against somebody that's as good as or better than you. Then there's a consequence."

After leading LSU (8-1, 5-1 SEC) for most of the second half Saturday, the consequence for the No. 17 Crimson Tide (6-3, 4-2 SEC) was a 41-34 loss to the Tigers.

With the win, LSU took sole possession of first place in the SEC West and eliminated Alabama from contention for the division title.

"I feel like at some points, we were better than the No. 3 team in the country," linebacker Darren Mustin said. "In the end, they just took it from us."

Javier Arenas put the Tide in position to win, returning a punt 62 yards for a touchdown, leading to a 34-27 Alabama lead with 7:33 remaining in the game. But then the miscues mounted.

The same Alabama defense that had forced LSU's Matt Flynn to throw a season-high three interceptions, allowed the quarterback to lead a 53-yard march to the Tide 31. It was there, on fourth-and-3, that Flynn found Early Doucet wide open in the middle of the field, and the receiver ran into end zone to tie it at 34 with 2:49 remaining.

"We're supposed to be pressing a guy on fourth-and-4, and were playing off messing around, trying to fake the blitz," Saban said. "You know, we're trying to cover one of the best players in college football. Get in the position to do it."

Next, it was the offense's turn to flounder. Wilson, who offset a 20-yard Alabama rushing performance by throwing for 234 yards and three scores while completing 14-of-40 attempts, led the Alabama's response throwing an incompletion, taking a sack - one of seven - and fumbling the ball while being sacked again on third-and-12.

"I just didn't wrap it up," Wilson said. "They blitzed and I should have just taken a sack and not tried to fight for extra yards."

LSU recovered it at the Alabama 3, and two plays later, Jacob Hester punched it in for the game-winning score with 1:26 left.

"Primetime players make plays in primetime," Saban said. "We had the opportunity to do it and didn't."

Alabama did have another shot. On first down, Wilson scrambled for 23 yards to the LSU 49 but misfired on his next three attempts. And on fourth-and-10, he hit an open Keith Brown near the LSU 35, but Tigers safety Craig Steltz swooped in, hit Brown in the back and separated receiver and ball to end the scoring threat.

"We wish we had another chance be we didn't," Saban said. "There are no re-dos in this game."

Said Brown, who caught two passes for 43 yards and two touchdowns: "(Saban's) point was it wasn't what they did, it's what we didn't do."

Bryan App can be reached at 740-5730 or bryan.app@timesdaily.com.