Five things that stood out in LSU football's loss to Alabama

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

Saturday's loss to Alabama was the Tigers' first game under interim head coach Frank Wilson after LSU dired Brian Kelly two weeks ago. We've seen several teams fire a coach this year and come back the next week playing inspired football. We saw some of that from LSU, but it wasn't enough.

LSU had multiple opportunities to take the lead in this game, but they could only settle for field goals. Field goals don't get it done when trying to upset a top-five-ranked team on the road. The story of the night continued to be LSU's struggles in the red zone. As soon as LSU approached the Alabama goal line, the offense went numb.

Let's take a look at five things that stood out for LSU against Alabama.

Michael Van Buren Jr.

Sometimes, if you want to win a football game, you have to call an audible. Coach Wilson was not happy with how Nussmeier was playing against Alabama, so he decided to bring in Van Buren at quarterback. Van Buren presents a different look than Nussmeier, as he is a shifty guy who is a threat to run on every snap. It was interesting to see LSU roll the dice in this one.

With Van Buren in the game, the results weren't much different. Van Buren was 5/11 for 51 yards while taking two sacks.

False Start penalties

LSU's offensive line had five false start penalties in the second half alone. If you want to win the tough games, you can not afford to put yourself behind the sticks the way that LSU did. The Tigers had a chance in the red zone that resulted in a field goal because of false-start penalties.

Harold Perkins Jr.

Perkins had a great game against Alabama tonight. He led the team in tackles with eight. He also had a sack and a forced fumble that set LSU up with great field position in the second half. Perkins had struggled in recent weeks — it was good to see the star linebacker getting back to his playmaking ways.

Harlem Berry

In the Brian Kelly era, LSU was never able to run the football. Tonight, LSU was not incredible running the ball, but Harlem Berry had more rushing yards by himself than Alabama did as a team. Berry led the Tigers with 12 carries for 66 yards.

Settling for field goals

LSU had opportunities in Alabama territory, but the only thing LSU could come up with was four field goal attempts by Damian Ramos. Ramos went 3-for-4 for the Tigers and scored all nine of LSU's points, but that was not enough to turn the Tide in this game.

Inside the Alabama 25, LSU averaged less than a yard per play. That's not a recipe to score points.

This article originally appeared on LSU Wire: Five things that stood out in LSU football's loss to Alabama

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos