Following a touchdown run from Jayden Daniels, LSU head coach Brian Kelly made one of the gutsiest calls this season.
Instead of extending the game to a second overtime period, Kelly opted to go for two and try to secure a signature win in his first year as the Tigers’ head coach.
His decision proved to be the right one as Daniels found tight end, Mason Taylor, for the successful conversion and the 32-31 win over Alabama.
Despite working out, the move shocked many in the college football world, even Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban who shared following the game that he did not expect Kelly to go for the win in that situation.
“No, I wasn’t,” Saban said when asked if he was expecting the play. “But they did, and we played what we could have played in that situation because the next series, you have to go for two. So we played what we would play against that formation and we had a chance to stop the guy. It wasn’t like we didn’t have him covered. But if we would have kept him out, we would have won the game.”
The loss continued to highlight a frustrating pattern of road performances by Alabama dating back as far as last season. The Crimson Tide struggled on offense throughout with quarterback Bryce Young completing just 49% of his passes on the night along with nine total penalties from the team.
At the end of the day, Saban said that there’s only one person to point the finger at for the team’s struggles.
“Look, I can’t blame the players,” Saban said. “I’m responsible for all this stuff, so if we didn’t do it right, that’s on me, and we’ve gotta do a better job of coaching the players so that we give them a better chance to have success and when we get opportunities, we take advantage of them.”
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
