Tide Hands LSU 31-0 Loss; Tigers Maintain SEC West Lead
11/16/02

BATON ROUGE -- Led by Santonio Beard's 109 rushing yards and two touchdowns and Shaud Williams' 131 rushing yards, 10th-ranked Alabama tallied 300 yards on the ground against the No. 1-ranked LSU defense to run away with a 31-0 victory in front of 92,012, the second-largest crowd in Tiger Stadium history.

The Tigers dropped their second game in league play and fell to 7-3 overall and 4-2 in Southeastern Conference play. Alabama, which is ineligible for the conference title due to NCAA sanctions against its football program, improved to 9-2 and 6-1 in league play.

LSU's loss coupled with Auburn's dramatic 24-21 loss at Georgia kept LSU the conference lead, a half game ahead of Auburn (7-4, 4-3) and in control of its own destiny in the league race with two games to play. The Tigers play host to Ole Miss (5-5, 2-4 SEC) on Nov. 23 in their final home game of the 2002 season. The game is set for a 7:30 p.m. CST kickoff to be nationally televised on ESPN2.

In its most stagnant offensive performance of the season, LSU totaled on 196 yards of total offense and rarely threatened the Tide even when given positive field position. Ten penalties for 77 yards also strangled the gasping Tigers' squad.

The shutout was the first against LSU since the Tide beat LSU 27-0 in 1996, a span of 72 games. The loss was the worst in Tiger Stadium since dropping a 58-3 contest with No. 5 Florida on Oct. 9, 1993.

Starting quarterback Marcus Randall was 6-of-17 passing for only 39 yards, while his backup, redshirt freshman Rick Clausen, saw his first significant action as a Tigers. Clausen finished 3-of-6 for 26 yards in the fourth quarter. Randall led LSU on the ground, gaining 54 yards on six carries. Domanick Davis added 47 yards on nine carries and LaBrandon Toefield returned to the field after missing four games with a broken radius to rush six times for 22 yards.

Meanwhile, the Tigers' defense had no answer for the Alabama rushing attack, and Tide quarterback Tyler Watt was just crafty enough to keep the secondary honest. Watts was 11-of-20 for 177 yards in the air and one touchdown. He also ran for a touchdown and had 37 yards rushing on 15 carries.

Alabama won the toss and elected to defer to the second half, giving LSU the ball to start the game. After a 61-yard kickoff return by Davis was nullified by a block in the back, the Tigers wasted no time advancing down the field into Tide territory, as Randall rushed for 15 yards on the first play from scrimmage before hitting Davis out of the backfield for 17 yards on third-and-5 from the LSU 35.

The drive stalled, however, at the Alabama 27 after a false start penalty forced a third and long from the 34. Corbello's 44-yard field goal attempt was tipped and the line and came up very short.

On the ensuing possession, Alabama marched into Tiger territory in similar fashion as the Tigers, working its way to the LSU 23 before Watts was picked off by Demetrius Hookfin in the endzone to end the threat and give LSU the ball on its 20. The turnover was Alabama's first in 194 plays dating back to the Tide's Oct. 26 win at Tennessee.

The teams traded seven punts to end the first quarter and start the second, as neither team was able to creep into the other's side of the field until six minutes before the end of the half.

Alabama used a 16-yard dash by Watts to reach the LSU 45 before Tide running back Shaud Williams sprinted 26 yards to the LSU 20. After a timeout by Alabama, the Tide tried and failed at a halfback pass from Williams to Sam Collins before gaining a first-and-goal from the 9 on an 11-yard reception by Triandos Luke. Two rushes later, Beard gave Alabama the game's first score with 3:52 remaining. The point after attempt was missed to the right and the Tide led 6-0.

In an attempt to catch the Tigers off guard, Alabama attempted a "sky kick" of sorts on the kickoff. The kick sailed out of bounds at the LSU 44 to give the Tigers excellent field position as the half neared conclusion. However, a third-down run by Joseph Addai came up short and LSU was forced to punt.

Jones punt was downed at the Alabama 4-yard line with under two minutes to play. Nine plays and 96 yards later, the Tide went ahead 14-0. Four delayed draws led to rushes of 12, 19, 18 and 32 yards to set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Luke with 14.2 seconds left in the half.

With 2:45 remaining in the first half, Alabama starting nose tackle Kenny King suffered a neck or back injury after assisting a tackle of Randall and was taken off the field to LSU's training room. His condition was unknown at the time of release.

Alabama took the ball to start the second half and converted its first third down on a 15-yard reception by Collins to the Bama 31. The Tide then went back two yards before punting.

Seemingly stymied on its next possession, LSU lined up to punt on fourth-and-10 from its 43. Instead, linebacker and senior captain Bradie James took the snap from deep snapper Wendell York and ran 29 yards to the Alabama 28. On the next play, Randall ran for eight yards up the middle before fumbling at the 20. Alabama recovered to stop the deepest penetration of the evening by the Tigers to that point.

An Alabama three-and-out again gave LSU good field position, but the Tigers weren't able to get past the Tide's 48 and punted.

Backed up to its 12 to start the drive, Alabama continued to befuddle the LSU defense as it drove 88 yards in 13 plays, taking 6:01 off the clock before Beard scored around the left side from 22 yards out. Another delayed draw to Beard sucked in the LSU defensive line and allowed the junior tailback to move over 100 yards rushing on the evening. Alabama led 21-0 with 14:45 to play in the game.

Rick Clausen entered in relief of Randall as the Tigers continued to search for a spark to its cold offensive unit. However, another three-and-out brought Jones in the game to punt for the seventh time.

Alabama went 28 yards in seven plays to tack on a field goal and put the game to rest with 10:43 remaining. The Tide added a 27-yard touchdown pass from Watts to Zach Fletcher with 4:07 to play to lead 31-0.