TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Joe Burrow passed for 393 yards and three touchdowns and No. 1 LSU snapped an eight-game losing streak to No. 2 Alabama with a 46-41 victory Saturday.
The Tigers (9-0, 5-0 Southeastern Conference, No. 2 CFP) are no longer second fiddle in the SEC West, or maybe in the playoff rankings. And Burrow stamped himself as the Heisman Trophy front-runner with a gutty performance when he answered every challenge from 'Bama.
"I just can't say enough about the work we put in this offseason," said Burrow, who definitely improved his Heisman chances with the performance. "You don't see a lot of teams go from where we were offensively last year to where we are this year."
The Crimson Tide (8-1, 5-1, No. 3 CFP) rallied from a 33-13 halftime deficit to three times to pull within a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
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The showdown lived up to its billing as a duel between two high-powered offenses and star quarterbacks with President Donald Trump attending. Tua Tagovailoa launched an 85-yard touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith with 1:21 left after the Tigers' own scoring march.
Justin Jefferson recovered the onside kick and LSU ran out the clock.
"This has been a long time coming," said head coach Ed Orgeron. "We felt all week that we were the better football team. We said it on Monday that we were the better football team, but we had to prove it."
Orgeron appeared a bit teary-eyed on the field in a post-game interview with CBS. He had come a long way from the man who was doubted as the successor to Les Miles. In fact, Orgeron and his teams had accomplished quite a lot. Really, only one thing remained to conquer - well, two - a national championship, but first, a win over Alabama. It had dogged him, but he said, he knew, LSU was finally where it needed to be.
"When I got on the plane coming here, I felt like, you know what, we got 'em," he said confidently in the post-game press conference. "We've finally got the tools that we need. We finally got the players that we need. We finally got the coaching staff that we need to beat these guys."
Burrow completed 31 of 39 passes and ran for 64 yards. Clyde Edwards Helaire ran for three touchdowns and caught a scoring pass.
Tagovailoa, 20 days removed from ankle surgery, was 21 of 40 for 418 yards and four touchdowns with an interception and a fumble.
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