Alabama football seized full control of the SEC West Saturday, with a 42-28 win over LSU at Bryant-Denny Stadium Saturday. The Crimson Tide made timely defensive stops and rode the legs of Jalen Milroe to the win, moving to 8-1 on the season, 6-0 in SEC play.

As Alabama prepares for its next test, a road trip to Kentucky on Saturday, here are our grades from Saturday’s big victory.

Offense: A+

With how good LSU’s offense is, the Tide was always going to need to score points, something that has been a struggle at times this season. Consider the test passed.

Alabama, led by Jalen Milroe’s four rushing touchdowns, blew the doors off of LSU. UA always had an answer, even when the Tigers went up out of halftime.

The Crimson Tide offense looked better than it has all season. If it can maintain that through the end of the season, Alabama might be a true title contender.

Defense: A

LSU was always going to score its points. Jayden Daniels is as good as advertised and the offense, which includes wideout Malik Nabors, was going to be a tough test.

But Alabama made the stops it needed to. Whether it was Malachi Moore coming through with a breakup on fourth down, hold the Tigers to a missed field goal attempt or Terrion Arnold picking off a pass that Dalas Turner tipped, the Tide came through.

It wasn’t the lowest points total Alabama has allowed this season. But given the level of difficulty, it might have been the Crimson Tide’s best performance yet.

Special teams: D

The poor grade is mostly due to Will Reichard’s two missed field goals. Reichard has proven himself to be the best kicker of Nick Saban’s tenure, but Saturday was a poor showing.

That isn’t likely to be a recurring problem going forward. Besides that, the special teams were mostly unremarkable.

James Burnip punted once for 50 yards and Kool-Aid McKinstry didn’t have any major lapses in receiving judgment. Still, the missed kicks are hard to look past when grading.

Coaching: A

Saban and company executed their jobs to perfection Saturday. The staff put Alabama’s players in position to succeed, and the game plan worked excellently.

It was possible to see the group’s progress from early in the season when Alabama got down to a short-yardage situation in the first half. Rather than go shotgun and add unneeded moving parts, offensive coordinator Tommy Rees put Milroe under center.

A few plays later, Alabama scored on a QB sneak. The progress shown by the Tide isn’t just from those on the field.

Overall: A+

All through the offseason, this game was talked about as being for the SEC West title. Alabama was looking to take revenge after the Tigers dashed its College Football Playoff hopes in 2022.

That all came to pass. The Crimson Tide didn’t blink and did everything it needed to in order to get the win.