Inside LSU's epic collapse against Alabama: 'Wow, it's 31-13 right now?'

BATON ROUGE, LA – Sam Leavitt looked at the scoreboard, and the LSU quarterback could scarcely believe what the numbers said.

The score indicated a blowout, but how could that be?

Hadn’t this been such a close game? Hadn’t LSU had a chance to win it? How did it come to this?

Alabama 31, LSU 13.

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“It just got out of hand really quick. It just kind of shocks you,” Leavitt said afterward. “Like, wow, it’s 31-13 right now? I thought we were just about to go win the game.”

LSU (6-3) lacks a killer instinct. When it’s winning time, LSU makes losing plays.

Why is that?

“I don’t know,” Lane Kiffin said. “We just didn’t (make winning plays). We had a chance.”

Had a chance against Kentucky, too, and lost in overtime.

Also had a chance against Mississippi, but the Rebels won because they were better in the fourth quarter, just as Alabama was in this game.

That’s how an LSU season with so much promise starts to swirl the drain.

That’s how Kiffin’s LSU debut season that began with so much hype, fanfare and hoopla — he walked into Tiger Stadium before the season opener against Clemson alongside, kid you not, bikini models — lands with a thud.

How did LSU lose to Alabama? ‘Red zone and fourth downs.’

If Leavitt could hardly believe the scoreboard, Kiffin could barely get his mind around the stat sheet that sat atop the lectern while he tried to put this loss into words.

The piece of paper said LSU outgained Alabama 457-285.

But, as Kiffin’s eyes advanced down the sheet, other critical figures emerged.

LSU’s conversion rate on fourth down? 0-for-4.

“Brutal,” Leavitt said of the fourth-down fizzles.

Four red-zone trips produced just 10 points.

Alabama kept deploying aggressive defensive schemes in the red zone. Kiffin, Leavitt and the LSU offense couldn’t produce solutions.

“It comes down to the red zone and fourth downs,” Kiffin said.

That’s how a team that logged 27 first downs loses, in what’ll look like a rout in the annals. Those who saw it will remember LSU led this game with 16 minutes to play, and the sell-out crowd reached a fever pitch, and Alabama kept its poise and turned down the noise.

“Really disappointed for our fans,” Kiffin said.

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LSU fans started pouring for the exits with more than six minutes remaining. One LSU fan who stayed to the end spotted a reporter holding a notebook on her journey out of the stadium and volunteered a quote to sum up the loss.

“Not good,” she said.

Not good at all.

LSU fan riding down the elevator with me said she’s got a quote to describe this loss: “Not good.”

Not good at all.

(But a good win for Alabama.)https://t.co/GaOXRWi8Zn

— Blake Toppmeyer (@btoppmeyer) November 8, 2026

When the clock hit 0:00, the stadium was a mostly empty shell, but the Alabama fans hadn’t budged.

They started shaking their pompoms and doing that chant they do after results like this: We just beat the hell out of you! Rammer Jammer Yellowhammer, give ’em hell Alabama!

Led by Keelon Russell, Alabama dropped the hammer on the Tigers in the fourth quarter.

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LSU isn’t officially eliminated from the playoff. One or more 9-3 teams might qualify for the bracket, but with Texas and Tennessee on deck, it’s getting harder to believe LSU will reach nine wins.

Kiffin admitted he didn’t expect three losses at this juncture of the season.

“No, I did not think that” this would be LSU’s record after nine games, Kiffin said. “But, it is where we are, and we can’t change that. We have to go back to work. We’ve got no time to sit around and feel bad.”

That becomes the question now, doesn’t it?

Will LSU fold the next two weeks like they folded in the fourth quarter of this game?

“I think it’s just kind of, who you are, what’s your makeup, and try to give yourself every single opportunity you can,” Leavitt said. “If we’ve got a small chance (at the playoff), then you’re going to go give it everything you got. If it doesn’t work out, at least you’re able to look yourself at the end of the day in the mirror and say you gave everything you got.”

This team shares some resemblance to 2024 Mississippi. That’s the Kiffin team that brimmed with talent and a big-bucks price tag, but it melted once, twice, three times against opponents with inferior talent. Those 2024 Rebels shared this team’s trait of an inability to make key plays in winning time.

It wasn’t until Kiffin handed the reins to Trinidad Chambliss last season that one of his teams finally developed a killer instinct.

LSU started to turn this game late in the third quarter with a 90-yard touchdown drive that produced the Tigers’ one and only lead.

The band played “Neck.” The sun had set by then, and the crowd started to show its Death Valley reputation. Amid the din, Alabama needed just five plays to travel 75 yards for the answering touchdown. All the yardage came off three Russell completions, plus one key third-down scramble.

The fourth quarter brought two rapid-fire Alabama touchdowns. That’s around the time Leavitt looked at the scoreboard and saw a shocking set of numbers.

Believe it, Alabama is humming toward the playoff, and Kiffin’s first season on the bayou is just about underwater.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Listen to his podcast, “College Football Unfiltered.” Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Inside LSU’s epic collapse against Alabama: ‘Wow, it’s 31-13 right now?’

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