No. 10 LSU answers again, walks off No. 6 Alabama, 32-31, in OT thriller

LSU had already battled through and bounced back from every big Alabama play and controversial officiating call for four quarters Saturday.

And when the No. 6 Crimson Tide (7-2, 4-2) tumbled its way ahead in overtime, the No. 10 Tigers (7-2, 5-1) had not only one more answer — but a little dramatic lagniappe.

Junior quarterback Jayden Daniels danced and dashed his way 25 yards to the end zone on first down, then rolled out to find freshman tight end Mason Taylor for the walk-off two-point spark to a powder keg of celebration.

Fireworks launched from the south end of Tiger Stadium and fans immediately flooded the field as LSU upended Alabama, 32-31, in its first home win in the series since 2010.

"Before the game started, if you asked me, 'Hey, I'm gonna give you one play, and if you're successful on that one play, you're gonna beat Alabama,' I would've taken that 100 times out of 100," first-year coach Brian Kelly said. "So, at that moment, it kind of hit me that way, and I knew we had a really good play that we hadn't used and they hadn't seen."

Daniels finished 22-for-32 (68.8%) for 182 yards and a pair of passing touchdowns, along with 18 rushes for 95 yards and the overtime score.

The performance was enough to help the lift the Tigers past the Crimson Tide even despite some late-game heroics by his highly touted counterpart.

"We're not here unless our quarterback plays really well," Kelly said. "Whether it's peewee football, high school football, college football or the NFL, your quarterback has to play well. And he did some really amazing things and in particular late. He made big plays late when he needed to."

Former Heisman winner Bryce Young completed 25 of his 51 passes (49.0%) for 328 yards and a go-ahead Alabama touchdown late in the fourth quarter that threatened to write a familiarly frustrating conclusion for LSU fans.

The junior somehow escaped a heavy rush from the Tigers on third-and-10, then sailed a pass deep to sophomore Ja'Corey Brooks for the 21-17 lead.

But instead of that 41-yarder proving a dagger with 4:44 remaining, Daniels and company marched 11 plays and 75 yards to and eventual 7-yard launch to Taylor in tight coverage in the back of the end zone.

"I'm so proud of my football team and the way they just took it one play at a time," Kelly said. "For me, just to see them grow, this was the next stage of development of our football team in that they needed to just not think about outcome and think about one play at a time, get to the next play, focus, refocus."

The Crimson Tide maneuvered its way to a 46-yard field goal by Will Reichard to knot the game back at 24-24 in the final minute of regulation, then ahead on a 2-yard run by Roydell Williams in the extra period.

But, again, LSU would not back down.

"I knew that there were good days ahead for this group (after losing the season opener to Florida State)," Kelly said. "And that's kind of why I went for it. I'm willing to do anything for this group, because I think that they have shown that they'll make it happen some way, and the did again tonight."

LSU's defense set that tone early, rebounding from a seemingly promising first drive for Alabama to snatch an end-zone interception by senior Jarrick Bernard-Converse.

The Tigers forced three straight three-and-outs on the Crimson Tide's next three possessions and repeatedly pushed Young and company back into their own end zone.

LSU finally capitalized on its fifth possession, cashing in prime starting position at the Alabama 49 with a four-play drive and 30-yard catch-and-run by junior running back John Emery Jr. early in the second quarter.

"It is a tough environment, a tough place to play, and we've got to give credit to LSU for making the plays that they made when they needed to make them," Alabama coach Nick Saban said. "We hurt ourselves quite a bit, especially early on. We had a great drive until the pick inside the 10-yard line. We had to settle for a lot of field goals and had way too many penalties."

The Crimson Tide pieced together three straight field goals by Reichard, a pair before halftime to pull back within 7-6 and the go-ahead 38-yard midway through the third.

But Daniels led an immediate 11-play, 75-yard march capped by a 2-yard Josh Williams run for the 14-9 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Alabama's first touchdown, a 2-yard run by Roydell Williams, reclaimed a 15-14 lead with a two-point pass attempt unable to provide any more cushion.

Freshman kicker Damian Ramos pulled LSU back ahead, 17-15, with a 32-yard field goal with 6:52 remaining to set up dueling Young and Daniels strikes down the stretch.

"I'm not going to second-guess what we did in the game, because we had a chance to win in the end," Saban said. "Whatever we did, we put ourselves in the position to do that, and we just came up short."

Junior receiver Kashon Boutte caught seven passes — the most by an LSU player this season — for 51 yards, and sophomore Malik Nabers had six receptions for 49 yards.

Josh Williams finished with 54 yards on seven carries to complement Daniels on the ground.

"So happy right now," Josh Williams said. "So many emotions going through my mind right now. We worked so hard leading up to this game. Coach told us we could do it, and we went out there and did it."

Junior defensive end B.J. Ojulari led the defense with 11 tackles, including a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss.

And freshman linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. added eight tackles, one sack and consistent pressure on Young.

"We did some great things defensively," Kelly said. "Our special teams was good. Look, to beat a top-10 team again at home and beat Alabama, you have to have a complete football game."

The Tigers have now won three straight since falling Oct. 8 to Tennessee (8-1, 4-1) and seven of their past eight since dropping the opener to Florida State (6-3).

And the past two victories against Ole Miss (8-1, 4-1) and Alabama mark the program's first consecutive defeats of top-10 opponents since the 2019 national championship team knocked off No. 9 Auburn and No. 2 Alabama.

In Kelly's first year at the helm, LSU enters the final weeks of the season leading its division and in control of its own destiny for a potential conference championship and College Football Playoff berth.

"I was (emotional)," he said. ""Because that was such a great game and I had never beaten Alabama... Those things are kind of like you want to check the boxes and move on, so yeah you get emotional. I was emotional not for myself, but I was emotional for our team because I know what we looked like in January and to see where we are today is pretty emotional."