Kalen DeBoer’s first season in Tuscaloosa was a real rollercoaster, and one of the biggest peaks was Alabama’s 42-13 win over LSU. Jalen Milroe and the Crimson Tide smashed the Tigers and ruined their College Football Playoff hopes in the process. Now, with LSU coming to Bryant-Denny Stadium in Week 11, with the Tide coming off a bye, the question for DeBoer will be: Can you do it again?
Who will be Alabama’s big-play threat in the run game?
Defense has been a big issue for LSU since Brian Kelly took over. It took a step forward last season under new defensive coordinator Blake Baker, but not nearly a big enough one. Most opponents attacked the Tigers’ leaky secondary, but Alabama did its damage on the ground last season.
Milroe carried the ball just 12 times against LSU and produced the most explosive rushing game of his career, finishing with 185 yards and four touchdowns. He managed a 75 percent rushing success rate and a staggering 1.28 EPA/rush. Alabama generated an explosive play on 12% of its carries. LSU is returning much of that same defense for 2025, but without Milroe, that rushing success will be difficult to replicate.
When Milroe handed the ball off against the Tigers, it was a completely different story. The Tide’s running backs, Jam Miller, Richard Young, Justice Haynes, and Daniel Hill combined for 92 rushing yards on 29 carries (3.2 yards per carry), but did reach the end zone twice. Against LSU, Bama running backs totalled a pedestrian 0.07 EPA/play with no runs longer than nine yards. For the season, the Tide’s top two returning running backs, Miller and Young, were worth -0.09 EPA/rush and 0.07 EPA/rush, respectively.
With Ty Simpson likely taking over at quarterback for Milroe, DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb won’t have the advantage of the 11-man run game or maybe the most explosive rushing quarterback in college football since Lamar Jackson. So, the longtime duo must find other ways to manufacture explosive plays on the ground. That will be a season-long goal of the offense, but the LSU matchup will put a huge spotlight on the run game and on Simpson after what Milroe did to the Tigers a year ago.
If the Tide don’t find a solution in the backfield with a better year from Miller or a breakout from Louisiana transfer Dre Washington, then five-star freshman quarterback Keelon Russell could be the eventual solution. Coming out of a bye in Week 10, it could be the perfect time to hand the talented young QB the reins.
Russell is a passer first, often using his athleticism to buy time as he hunts an explosive play down the field, but early in his career, as he adjusts to the speed of the SEC, he could lean more on his rushing ability, a skillset that Simpson simply cannot match.