A season that began teetering on Rocky Top came crashing down in Death Valley.

Alabama’s hopes to win another national title this season were effectively extinguished by a 32-31 overtime loss to LSU on Saturday night in Baton Rouge.

Mason Taylor caught the game-winning two-point conversion at the end of the first overtime after both Alabama and LSU scored touchdowns, but coach Brian Kelly decided to go for the win.

LSU improved to 5-1 in the SEC with the win and now owns tiebreakers over both Alabama (4-2 in conference play) and Ole Miss (4-1). That means the Tigers would need to lose both its remaining conference games at Arkansas and Texas A&M for Alabama to make the SEC championship game — and that would require the Tide winning next week at Ole Miss and the Iron Bowl.

Alabama might still have a shot at the Sugar Bowl but the destination of its season at this point could be the Citrus Bowl in Orlando on Jan. 2. In either case, 2022 will mark the fourth season in the past five that ends without a national title for Alabama, which won five of the nine championships before that.

Saturday marked Alabama’s first loss in Tiger Stadium since 2010, and the first time Alabama has lost multiple regular-season games since 2019 — when it missed the SEC championship game and the New Year’s Six bowls entirely.

A 2022 season that began with high expectations buoyed by a pair of decorated juniors in Bryce Young and Will Anderson never quite got off the ground. Alabama appeared vulnerable in an early-season road trip to Texas, lost on the road to Tennessee and played its worst offensive game of the season at LSU.

Alabama will play for pride the rest of its season, but with Young and Anderson almost certainly headed to the NFL in January, an offseason of change lies ahead.

Offense no longer is Alabama’s fail-safe advantage

Nick Saban said this past week it was “unfair” to judge the offense the past month, when Bryce Young missed a game-and-a-half because of a shoulder injury and did not practice before playing in the next two games.

With Saban saying in his pregame radio interview that Young returned to practice before Saturday’s game, perhaps it is more fair to judge an offense that was out of sorts for stretches of the night in Tiger Stadium.

Alabama sliced through LSU’s defense on its opening drive but Young’s off-target, off-platform throw to JoJo Earle was intercepted in the end zone to prevent points being scored. The next three drives began inside the 20-yard line and resulted in three-and-outs, inciting a visiting crowd that sensed the mounting struggles of the Tide’s offense.

The first half ended with more ball movement from Alabama — a 65-yard catch-and-run by Jase McClellan and a 63-yard drive — but neither ended in touchdowns. The ability to run the ball in the red zone seemed absent for an Alabama offense that settled for field goals both times.

Another field goal ended Alabama’s 15-play drive to begin the second half, with Young sailing a third-down pass over the head of tight end Cameron Latu. After another three-and-out, Alabama’s offense received the break it needed when a face mask penalty extended a drive in LSU territory and ended with the Tide’s first touchdown scored, a 2-yard run by Roydell Williams.

When Alabama embarked on a key drive with 6:52 remaining and down two points, the season might have been on the line as the Tide faced a third-and-10 from the LSU 41-yard line. In his trademark way, Young slithered through the LSU pass rush and threw off-balance to Brooks, who had slipped behind the secondary, for what could have been the game-winning score.

Down again by three points in the closing two minutes of regulation, Young led Alabama on a 10-play, 47-yard drive that ended in a game-tying, 46-yard field goal by Will Reichard.

Alabama entered the game ranked fourth in the country in averaging 43.1 points per game, but there was little its offense offered in close wins over Texas and Texas A&M — with backup Jalen Milroe at quarterback — and that theme resurfaced Saturday night.

Alabama rotated through five wide receivers in the first half but had a total of 36 yards on four catches from that group to show for it. The Tide continued to lean more on its running backs in the passing game, especially Jahmyr Gibbs, a sign of how it lacks the go-to wide receivers it had the past four seasons. Gibbs finished regulation with seven catches on 11 targets, while Brooks in regulation had seven catches on 16 targets for 97 yards, almost half of which came on his touchdown.

Even when the Tide’s defense has faltered in recent seasons — and that was hardly the case Saturday night — its offense was simply too good to lose most of the time. That advantage seems to be largely gone, and the questions will only intensify with Bryce Young likely headed to the NFL this offseason.

Penalties, turnover margin continue to plague Tide

An Alabama team that entered Death Valley ranked 121st in the country in penalty yards lived up to its statistical reputation.

The Tide committed nine penalties for 92 yards in regulation, contributing to a persistent problem for a team that has not been able to shake the “undisciplined” label. None were particularly back-breaking until cornerback Eli Ricks — an LSU transfer who moved into the starting lineup last week — was called for a third-down pass interference in the end zone in the third quarter, resulting in a Tigers touchdown the next play.

Ricks was called again for another third-down pass interference in the fourth quarter, although it came on what was already a free play for LSU because of an Alabama offsides penalty. His teammate Brian Branch was later flagged for pass interference to propel LSU toward the end zone on its late-fourth quarter drive.

Henry To’o To’o was called for roughing the passer and Dallas Turner was called for unnecessary roughness in the first quarter, an early return-to-normalcy for an Alabama team that set a school record with 17 penalties for 130 yards against Tennessee. They trimmed it down to three for 20 against Mississippi State a week later, but that proved to be more of an exception.

Alabama also began the game with a minus-3 turnover margin, a statistic that Saban often says correlates with wins. The Tide’s 7-1 record belied its issues with turning the ball over and not generating takeaways so far this season, but that changed Saturday night.

Young’s red-zone interception took points off the board while the Tide was fortunate to avoid another turnover in the second quarter. Latu fumbled but touched the ball while his leg was out of bounds, causing the play to end before LSU’s recovery.

Defensively Alabama could not generate a turnover for the fourth time this season, depriving the game of a momentum-shifting play that could have avoided the final result.

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.