BATON ROUGE, La. — Alabama walked into Tiger Stadium, and nearly kept No. 15 LSU out of the end zone for an entire game. Apart from a garbage time touchdown in No. 11 Alabama’s 42-13 win, the Crimson Tide walled up on the road against an elite Tigers offense that had scored at will against teams this season.

Alabama showed its bend-but-don’t-break spirit by forcing a goal line stand to preserve a 34-0 shutout against Missouri two weeks ago. The Crimson Tide channeled that same energy in a much bigger contest and not only held up but made a statement in a make-or-break game for the team’s postseason hopes.

The Tide’s defense started to click on LSU’s first drive of the game after it initially looked like Saturday's contest could turn into a shootout. After Alabama scored on its opening drive, the Tigers started at the 50 thanks to a good kickoff return. LSU nearly took the ball to the end zone on second down after a 45-yard run by running back Caden Durham. The only reason the play didn’t result in a touchdown was thanks to a chase-down tackle by Alabama cornerback Domani Jackson.

Jackson’s effort was rewarded with the Tide backed up to its goal line. Linebacker Jihaad Campbell broke up a pass on third-and-goal forcing the Tigers to settle for a field goal. It was the start of a massive game for Campbell and a tone-setter for Alabama for the rest of the contest.

“We were going into the game with violent intentions. That was the whole mindset. We didn’t care about their stadium and their fans and how they bring the crowd into the game. We didn’t really care about that. We cared about us playing as a whole unit. Going out there and smashing people in the face.”

Smash people in the face it did. The Tide’s defense continued to dominate while preventing LSU from putting points on the board. The Tide sacked Tigers quarterback Garrett Nussmeier twice, which is an impressive feat as LSU had only given up four sacks in total before Saturday. Campbell was responsible for 1.5 of them, including a strip sack that accounted for one of Alabama’s two takeaways. Nussmeier finished the game with 239 passing yards, which is the second fewest he’s thrown in a game this season.

“I think we had to just keep mixing up what they were seeing,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said of the Tide's defensive scheme. “He’s a great quarterback and can kind of predetermine a little bit of where the ball might go and I thought just over the course of the week, the wrinkles that we continued to add play off of play, just really be effective. I think that was the case. Just mixing up the defenses, mixing up the pressures and just making plays when we have a chance. There were a couple tackles we missed, a couple edges we gave up. But for the most part, I thought we were pretty sound. Lined back up and played ball again.

Alabama’s other star linebacker Deontae Lawson was responsible for the second of Alabama’s takeaways. Lawson picked off Nussmeier in the end zone, killing another seemingly strong drive by LSU. The Tigers started at their own 25 but ripped off a few chunk plays to yet again end up at the Alabama five-yard line before Lawson stepped in. After the game, Lawson said he made a similar interception in practice last week, dropping back and reading the quarterback to put himself in the right place to make a play.

“I think that’s one of the biggest plays there in the game,” DeBoer said. “I mean, there’s at lot of them. But coming out of the locker room that feeling where “Hey, just don’t give them a touchdown early or give them any points and to take that wind out of their sails, get the takeaway and we went right down the field and got the points. Big swing of energy there and momentum.”

Not only did the Crimson Tide generate positive defensive momentum, leading to its first big win away from home, but it’s reversed many of the negative trends that plagued Alabama in lackluster performances against Vanderbilt and South Carolina. The Tide has allowed 13 points in its last two games. Alabama was also called for just three penalties and stopped LSU on eight of its 14 third-down conversion attempts.

With three games remaining, Alabama’s defense has the chance to continue it’s upward trajacotry as Alabama looks to finish the season strong and land itself in the first edition of the 12-team College Football Playoff. The Crimson Tide has a much lighter opponent on its schedule when it faces Mercer next Saturday, but the Tide show no signs of slowing down no matter which team is in front of it.

“Every time we get on the field it’s an emphasis," Campbell said. "Let’s have a three-and-out or let’s get a turnover. Whatever we can do to get a three-and-out or a turnover. But at the end of the day, we play like it’s 1-0 and we play like it’s our last play.”