BATON ROUGE, La. — They say elephants never forget. Neither does Jalen Milroe.
The Alabama starting quarterback ran rampant through LSU’s defense for a second straight season, piling up 294 total yards and four rushing touchdowns during the Crimson Tide’s 42-13 victory Saturday night. However, he still remembers the feeling of watching fans storm the field inside Tiger Stadium following LSU’s overtime victory over Alabama two years ago.
Milroe and Alabama made sure that didn’t happen during their return to Death Valley. Instead of rushing the field, the Crimson Tide had Tigers fans running for the exits midway through the third quarter Saturday night.
The mass exodus made the blowout victory that much sweeter.
“Forgive, never forget,” Milroe said when asked about Alabama getting redemption in its return to Tiger Stadium. “I think that’s something we do as a football team. You’re going to have losses, you’re going to have wins. All your losses turn into a lesson. You just try to really look internally at what we need to do so that we can be our best us.”
Milroe put in one of his best performances of the season. While a rainy night saw him complete just 12 of 18 passes for 109 yards, he gashed LSU’s defense for 185 yards and four scores on 12 carries. That performance came after Milroe ran for 155 yards and four touchdowns during Alabama’s 42-28 victory over LSU in Bryant-Denny Stadium last season.
Milroe remembers that game too and used it to punish the Tigers in a similar fashion Saturday night.
“The biggest thing is you just reflect and build,” Milroe said. “Most importantly having film to reflect on from last year. Just seeing what our strength was, our weaknesses and learning from those categories to allow the game plan to be so smooth this year.”
All four of Milroe’s touchdowns came from 10 yards out or more. His 19-yard score late in the third quarter broke the game open at 28-6. That’s about when the home crowd started trickling from the stands. Even the most faithful LSU fans began retreating early in the fourth quarter, as Milroe ripped off his final touchdown of the night, scoring on a 72-yard scamper down the right side of the field.
“They say don’t look at the stadium, don’t look at the scoreboard,” Milroe said. “But I think it was more important to see the guys constantly competing. What we try to do is make the other team tap out. It’s not worrying about external factors like the stadium and what’s around us. It’s more like how can we continue to go on the path. Go 1-0, attacking the opponent and making them surrender at the end of the day.”
Following his final touchdown, Milroe high-fived an Alabama fan in the back of the end zone before dancing in front of a few angry LSU supporters. By the time Alabama went up 42-6 on an 8-yard touchdown run from Richard Young late in the fourth quarter, the Tide might as well have been playing a home game.
“It’s always great to end a game and see only your fans,” Alabama left guard Tyler Booker said. “We just want to show love and appreciation to them, so shout out to the Alabama fans that were here today.”
After seeing its season essentially ended by LSU two years ago, No. 11 Alabama (7-2, 4-2 in the SEC) left Death Valley with its College Football Playoff dreams still very much intact. Now the Tide will look to make a few more memories moving forward.
“It was very great to be able to see everybody, all the LSU fans leave the stadium,” Miller said. “All you could see was Crimson. It’s something that I will remember forever.”
