Film Room: Comparing LSU's Final Play to Another Infamous Play in Alabama History

LSU's game winning play showed some major similarities to another recent play that Alabama lost a game on.

Blake Byler | Nov 7, 2022

In this story:

Alabama Crimson Tide

One play. Do or die. Win or lose.

What more can you ask for?

The Crimson Tide is no stranger to a moment like that — this was actually the second time this season that a game came down to one final play from inside the 5-yard-line. This time, though, Alabama was on the losing end.

After scoring a touchdown on the second possession of overtime, LSU trailed by one point. Head coach Brian Kelly decided to go for two, putting his offense on the field to try to gain a mere two yards — and a season-defining win.

Here's the play that gave LSU its season-defining win:

LSU chose to line up on the left hash mark, putting two wide receivers out to the right side but keeping them away from the boundary. Tight end Mason Taylor lined up just behind the Tigers' right tackle, and LSU lined a running back to the right of quarterback Jayden Daniels.

Taylor got sent in motion, running to his left until he was behind the center before changing directions and sprinting out to his right. As Taylor made it halfway between the tackle and the receiver, Daniels called for the snap.

Daniels rolled out to his right after receiving the snap, and Taylor ran laterally down the 1-yard-line looking to receive the pass. The two LSU wide receivers lined up on the right and were engaged by the Alabama defensive backs lined up in front of them, driving them back and blocking the path of Alabama safety Jordan Battle whose assignment was to cover Taylor.

Battle's path wasn't completely blocked, but he was noticeably slowed and was late getting to Taylor who made the catch and dove across the pylon to secure the win.

After the game ended, many former Alabama players took to Twitter to discuss the results of the game. One in particular — Miami Dolphins defensive lineman Raekwon Davis — paralleled the play to Clemson's game-winning play in the 2016 National Championship Game.

That last play give me flashbacks , not to mention that’s the same play from 2016 when we lost to Clemson 😭
— Raekwon Davis (@Raekwondavis_99) November 6, 2022

Here is the play Davis is referring to:

After a back-and-forth affair, Alabama led Clemson by just three points, but the Tigers had the ball as deep as it gets in Crimson Tide territory.

It's once again the final play of the game — and once again from the 2-yard-line.

Clemson lined up in a very similar formation to LSU, with two wide receivers out to the right and a running back to the quarterback's right as well. The biggest difference comes from Clemson's lack of a tight end, the focal point of LSU's play.

Instead of running the play for the tight end, Clemson decided to utilize wide receiver Hunter Renfrow — who had a history of torching Alabama in big games.

From the snap, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson rolled to his right, just like Daniels did for LSU. Clemson's outside wide receiver crashed downwards and inwards, being engaged by the defensive back and forcing his man into Tony Brown, who was assigned to Renfrow. This allowed Renfrow to run free and receiver a well-timed pass from Watson — securing the Clemson victory.

After this game, Alabama fans complained that Clemson's play was illegal, dubbing it a 'pick-play.' Fans wanted offensive pass interference called for the contact against Alabama's defensive backs. Rules officials found that this was not grounds for offensive pass interference due to the mutual nature of the contact between wide receivers and defensive backs just beyond the line of scrimmage.

This same tactic was used by LSU on Saturday night, and it led to another heart-wrenching defeat for the Crimson Tide. Plays of this nature and design take perfect execution to pull off, and unfortunately for Alabama, multiple teams in recent memory have used it to knock them off.

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