It wasn't pretty, but Alabama football earned its eighth consecutive victory on Saturday night, beating LSU 20-9.
Alabama has plenty to work on, but a win is all that matters now. The Crimson Tide remains in great position to make the College Football Playoff and play in the SEC Championship Game. One win in its final two SEC games - vs. Oklahoma next week and at Auburn in three weeks - likely clinches both.
On a night when the offense couldn't string together drives consistently, it was the defense that came up large and kept LSU out of the endzone for 60 minutes. The defense is rounding into form while the offense stagnates. If Kalen DeBoer can figure out what ails the offense and fix it, then this team will be one of the best in the country.
5 observations from Alabama's 20-9 win over LSU
1. Alabama's running game remains a complete disaster
Alabama cannot run the football. That's just a fact at this point. Nine games into the season, that's likely not fixable anymore, despite what Ryan Grubb said last week.
There seemed to be some confidence within the program that the bye week helped the Crimson Tide figure things out. That confidence was replaced with reality on Saturday night. Alabama managed just 56 yards on the ground on 26 attempts. Daniel Hill was the leading rusher with just 21 yards.
Against Power Four competition, aside from an aberration against Vanderbilt, the Crimson Tide has been completely one-dimensional on offense. It's the biggest reason Alabama's offense reached the endzone only twice against LSU, and the game remained tighter than it had any business being.
2. Ty Simpson was ever so slightly off
Alabama has had to put way too much on Ty Simpson's shoulders offensively because of the lack of a run game. That's allowed opponents to bring pressure with impunity, and Simpson seems to be pressing too much. Over the last couple of games, the redshirt junior has missed a lot of throws that he would normally make.
Simpson's Achilles heel has been an inaccuracy on downfield passes. He hit a nice one to Lotzeir Brooks late in the second quarter, but for the season, he's now just 2-of-14 on throws more than 30 yards down the field, per Mike Rodak. Alabama made a concerted effort to hit some deep shots against LSU, but Simpson went just 1-of-4.
The first drive out of the locker room in the third quarter was a microcosm of the struggles. Simpson underthrew an open Lotzeir Brooks on a second down near midfield for what could have been a touchdown. It also could've been pass interference, but a better throw renders that moot.
On third down, Simpson overthrew an open Germie Bernard for what could have been another big play or even a touchdown.
It's the only real flaw in Simpson's game. If he can iron that out, Alabama's offense will be able to compensate for a porous ground attack.
3. Alabama's two-minute offense remains deadly
While the offense never found any real consistency against LSU, the one constant for the Tide's offense remains how lethal Simpson and the passing game are in two-minute situations.
Thanks to some questionable clock-management by LSU interim head coach Frank Wilson, Simpson and the offense got a second chance at points late in the second half following a missed chip-shot field goal by Connor Talty.
With 52 seconds to play and no timeouts, Alabama only needed three plays to reach the endzone. Following an incompletion on first down, Simpson hit a perfectly placed deep ball to Lotzeir Brooks for 53 yards.
On the next play, Simpson connected with Ryan Williams in the end zone for a 13-yard strike to put Alabama up 17-3 at halftime.
Alabama has now scored touchdowns in the final two minutes of the first half in seven out of its nine games this season.
4. Yhonzae Pierre has morphed into Dallas Turner
Yhonzae Pierre has exploded into one of the nation's most elite pass rushers. He's consistently harassing quarterbacks with Dallas Turner-like tenacity.
After two more sacks against LSU, Pierre now has a team-leading six this season. That surpasses the five that Jihaad Campbell led the team with a year ago. And Pierre didn't even start the first four games. He was inserted into the starting lineup following the foot injury suffered by Qua Russaw.
Alabama created a havoc play on 21% of LSU's snaps, per Game on Paper. If you were wondering why the Tigers threw so many screens, it's because they didn't think they could block the Crimson Tide. They were correct.
5. Alabama's linebacker play has taken a significant leap forward
Outside of Pierre's Dallas Turner-leap, the biggest reason for Alabama's improvement on the defensive side of the ball has been how well the off-ball linebackers have been playing. The inside trio of Deontae Lawson, Justin Jefferson, and Nikhail Hill-Green has all been consistently excellent in recent weeks.
The trio combined for 21 tackles against LSU. Kane Wommack has figured out ways to get all three on the field at the same time, and it's helped to improve the Tide's run defense. Alabama allowed only 59 rushing yards to LSU, forcing the Tigers to be one-dimensional.
Hill-Green has exploded in recent weeks. The Colorado transfer forced and recovered a fumble in the first half that led to Alabama's first points of the game.
Alabama's defense is finally starting to look like the unit that came into the season with massive preseason hype. The linebackers are a major reason for it.