Alabama toes the company line in win over LSU

— -- TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- It isn't often that you witness ongoing futility so clearly in a single football play that you see an entire season turn on its head at the same time. In the fourth quarter on Saturday night, with his team down 27-10 and being battered all over a murky evening by  Alabama, LSU quarterback Brandon Harris found himself pursued by elements of the Alabama defense, as had been the case all night. Hopelessly surrounded, Harris unloaded the ball to the nearest friendly jersey. Unfortunately, it belonged to Jerald Hawkins. He made a nice catch. Alas, Hawkins was an offensive lineman before Harris threw him the ball, and he was an offensive lineman when he caught it. Still, it was one of the best plays LSU managed all night.

A lot of things got thrown into a mild form of chaos with Alabama's 30-16 win at Bryant-Denny Stadium. LSU running back Leonard Fournette's chances at a Heisman Trophy got dinged up for the first time; swarmed all night, Fournette managed only 31 yards on 19 carries, and he got thoroughly outplayed at his position by Alabama's Derrick Henry, who gained 213 yards and scored three times. While coach Nick Saban would rather remove his own eyeballs with a lemon zester than admit it, his defense was tired of hearing about Fournette, and it played very much like it.

"It really just comes down to, like Coach has probably said all week, just dominating our box," said Alabama linebacker Dillon Lee. "Everyone just went on their one-on-one battles. Once everyone was winning their individual battles, we were all together as a defense. Our gap control was really sound tonight, and they were always backed up on third down."