LSU's star RB again says Bama's scared of a run game it keeps shutting down
If Derrius Guice is right, the Tide are still doing okay.
Alabama shut out LSU last season, 10-0, in Baton Rouge. It was one of the most hyped games of the college football season, and the Crimson Tide reduced the Tigers’ offense to dust. In addition to zero points, LSU had 125 yards of total offense. That included 33 rushing yards on 27 carries. The Tide neutralized LSU runners Leonard Fournette and Derrius Guice, two of the country’s least stoppable talents.
But LSU, according to Guice, put fear into the Tide.
“Alabama always stacks 10 people in the box to stop us,” Guice told reporters after the game. “They’re scared as well.”
That doesn’t square with the film. Alabama sometimes sold out its pass defense to load up near the line of scrimmage, but the Tide didn’t do it anywhere close to all the time. That was despite a mediocre LSU pass offense. Quarterback Danny Etling was 11 of 24 for 92 yards, a 3.8-yard average that might not have beaten Missouri.
Guice reiterated the point about Bama’s fear at SEC Media Days on Monday.
Guice's full comment on Alabama being scared: "Like I said last year, every time we were about to run they have like the whole box loaded."
— Aaron Suttles (@AaronSuttles) July 10, 2017
Alabama hasn’t much any trouble stopping LSU’s running game (or anyone else’s, generally) for years. LSU’s yards per carry against the Tide in the last five meetings:
- 2016: 1.22
- 2015: 2.08
- 2014: 3.27
- 2013: 1.39
- 2012: 2.84
The last time Alabama gave up more than 3.61 yards per rush against LSU was 2010.
Maybe Guice is right. But if Alabama’s scared of LSU’s running game, that’s been a pretty healthy fear. The Tide haven’t lost this rivalry game since 2011.