BATON ROUGE, La. - "It was good until it got dark."
This was the message one LSU fan said to another when BamaCentral was headed onto the field at Tiger Stadium and Alabama was leading LSU 31-13 late in the fourth quarter.
His statement was correct. LSU took a 13-10 lead with 2:44 remaining in the third quarter. Momentum was in the Tigers' favor, and the sun set in the minutes following the touchdown. Alabama's offense was fairly quiet up until that point, and despite it only being a three-point game late in the third quarter, the Crimson Tide's College Football Playoff hopes were starting to become a question mark.
But on the first play of the drive that followed LSU's touchdown, Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell found wide receiver Rico Scott for a 57-yard gain. Four plays later, including a third-and-nine conversion via Russell's legs, tight end Josh Ford was alone in the end zone to take the lead. LSU never scored again.
So what happened during the TV timeout after LSU scored and before Scott turned the Tide? What was the message Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer gave to the offense before a 5-play, 75-yard, 2-minute drive?
"There's a lot of football left. And even after that play and after that touchdown, there's a lot of football left," DeBoer said during the postgame press conference. "And so it's all about just being in the moment, staying focused on the next play. And I think our guys, I mean, we've had a number of situations now in the second half where you just stay the course."
Alabama wide receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams missed the Crimson Tide's previous two games due to multiple injuries, but he returned on Saturday in excellent fashion. He scored UA's first touchdown off a one-yard sweep and returned a punt 32 yards to put Alabama in the red zone one play before Russell hit Cederian Morgan for a 25-yard touchdown to create a 24-13 lead.
Coleman-Williams was on the field during Scott's 57-yard catch, and while he didn't have the ball in his hands, the junior broke down the play call.
"Really, coming off the sideline, we knew that they weren't going to fall off on the route," Coleman-Williams said. "I'm really just thinking, 'Can I get two guys right here just to get my opportunity to run away from one?' And [Scott] did. He ran away from his man-to-man. Once he grabbed it, I was like, 'This is my chance.' I got off my guy, blocked the other guy, gave him a cutback lane, and he just did the rest."
DeBoer said that "the big play to Rico sparked us," and it most certainly did. After that play, Alabama outscored LSU 21-0. Scott was the hero for the Crimson Tide against Texas A&M as well , tallying six catches for 156 yards. Alabama was in danger of losing that game as well, but he stepped up.
"The offense in that moment executed exactly how you want that play to look like," DeBoer said. "Rico went out and made a play. I think that's what it is too. I mean, Rico's had his game last week, and there's a confidence in playmaking that everyone believes in when it comes to him and himself as well."
No three-loss team has ever made the CFP's 12-team field , but the Crimson Tide and Tigers came into Saturday dropping two contests apiece. The pressure has never been higher this season for head coachesDeBoer and Lane Kiffin, but only one could come out on top.
DeBoer stepped up when it mattered most. Sure, the wins over Georgia in 2024 and 2025 may have had a larger magnitude because both teams were ranked higher, but Saturday's victory was a true statement.
Alabama was named the No. 5 team in the initial College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday, which was big surprise given its two losses. But with a win-or-go-home mindset combined with one of the most raucous environments in college football, DeBoer and company prevailed.
"The toughness, the resiliency, and as long as your mind can stay in the right spot and you stay focused on the right things, there's a physicality that I think our team still has and the presence that we get in these SEC games that takes over."
This win should set the tone for the remainder of the regular season. Alabama will face Vanderbilt on the road next Saturday before hosting Chattanooga on Nov. 21 and Auburn on Nov. 28. Nevertheless, anything could happen in college football. Alabama is nowhere near out of the woods yet, as it hopes to continue building its CFP resume.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/alabama as Inside the Drive Against LSU That Kept Alabama's CFP Hopes Alive .
