On the other hand, we could be like the Dallas Cowboys, who I watched drive down the field and have a 2nd and 1 inside the 10 yard line with a chance to win the game, but blow it by trying to force the ball to Ezekiel Elliot on 3 straight plays. All 3 absolutely predictable and Minnesota blew them all up.
One issue I have with the situation is some things might not be fixable. You can't for instance fix the injuries and get back some of those guys. You can't magically wave a wand and fix inexperience, lack of depth, etc... This obviously isn't Alabama stubbornly stick to the running game, that's for sure.
Dreadful results on offense cost the team more than anything else, and I say this in part because the offense is far too talented and skilled to go out there and perform like that in the first half. You have 5 possessions in which Alabama couldn't manage to hang onto the ball for 2 minutes, and that's not even counting the last one to end the half. In the least the offense could have chewed some clock but they didn't even manage that.
The offense scored one touchdown in the first half. The missed extra point means that amounted to just 6 points. On the flip side, Alabama's offense fumbled away 3 points in the bag, and then gave LSU another 7 points in such a way that LSU couldn't possibly have done that without help from Alabama's offense. It's one thing to say ok, there's problems and the personnel just isn't there to fix them. That's not the case with this offense. Najee ran all over LSU, once Tua settled in he threw all over LSU. It was mostly unforced errors. The offense was basically a net negative in the first half. They could have just called the RBs number on every single play, being more predictable than the Cowboys and still have done less harm (not saying they should have mind you).
You can't let lack of restraint, lack of execution, and lack of clock management put your team's back against the wall. In the first half Alabama ran the ball 3 times on first down for 31 yards, no gain, and 7 yards. In the second half they ran on first down for 31 yards, 14 yards, 9 yards, 9 yards and 4 yards. Now I get that Alabama's pass tendencies (also Tua wasn't that bad on first down in the first half, he was 6/10 with 1 TD and 1 INT and penalties played a role, not trying to hang Tua out to dry) set that up somewhat, but that's an average of 11.6 per yards on first down, on the ground. I have to look at those numbers and ask myself why on earth Alabama, with an injured Tua feeling pressure mind you and not even playing from behind wasn't running more not just on first down but in general in the first half. Alabama took risks they didn't need to take and that, because it was entirely avoidable, is both the difference and the problem.
