LSU flops on fourth downs in 'really disappointing' loss - ESPN

BATON ROUGE, La. — No. 14 LSU outgained No. 5 Alabama by 172 yards but was undone by poor red zone and fourth-down offense, losing 31-13 and dropping to 6-3 this season.

Tigers coach Lane Kiffin said Saturday's outcome was «really disappointing.»

LSU was 0-for-4 on fourth downs — the most attempts without a conversion in Kiffin's career. His offense made four trips to the red zone and came away with only one touchdown and one field goal.

«I was looking at a sheet and it said Sam [Leavitt] had 380 yards passing and Jackson Harris had 11 [receptions] for 166 [yards] and Trey'Dez [Green] had 10 [receptions] for 85 [yards]. I wouldn't think that would equal 13 points,» Kiffin said. «But you got to score touchdowns in the red zone.»

Kiffin was asked what's keeping his team from making winning plays.

«I don't know,» he said. «We had a chance.»

LSU made a stop and took the lead briefly late in the third quarter. Later, it gave up a 32-yard punt return to Ryan Coleman-Williams. On the next play, second-year Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell found Cederian Morgan for a 25-yard touchdown pass.

Alabama outscored LSU 21-0 to close out the game.

Now, the Tigers, a preseason favorite to compete for the national championship, have three losses and might be out of the playoff race.

LSU's chances to make the playoff fell from 51% to 25% after the loss, according to the Allstate Playoff Predictor.

Kiffin was asked whether he thought his team would be 6-3 at this point in the season.

«No, I did not think that,» he said, «but it is where we are, and we can't change that. So, we got to go back to work. Don't have time to sit around and feel bad. Got a top-10 team coming in here in Texas.

»It's one thing, probably the one good thing about