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Remember four years ago, when LSU nipped Alabama 9-6 in a field-goal fest?
Nick Saban certainly does. Ever since that game — when the Crimson Tide missed four field goal attempts, including Cade Foster’s 52-yard try after the Tide got the ball first in overtime — none of the last four matchups have been decided by less than 4 points.
In other words, whether he’s planned this or not, Saban has not given his kickers a chance to decide the most important regular season game of Alabama’s season.
The scary thing, at least when it comes to this year’s matchup, is that Saban may have no other choice than to turn to his kicker, Adam Griffith, more than he wants to. Both teams are strong in multiple areas, particularly their running games and run defenses. However, their quarterbacks are their biggest weaknesses, so it’s likely that points will again be at a premium on Saturday night in Tuscaloosa.
And that possibility puts a lot of pressure on the respective right foot of Griffith and LSU’s Trent Domingue.
Griffith, who is now 10-for-16 on field goal attempts after missing his first 4 tries of the season, is best known as the kicker whose last-second miss against Auburn in 2013 resulted in a game-winning touchdown return for the Tigers. He’s also the same guy who made his first 7 attempts last year before missing 7 of his last 12 tries.
The longest field goal of his career is the 47-yarder he made against West Virginia in the 2014 season opener. His season long this year is the 40-yarder he drilled in Alabama’s 34-0 win over Louisiana-Monroe on Sept. 26. If Griffith hasn’t regressed, it seems as if he has definitely peaked, so it will be interesting to see if Saban calls on him to kick anything longer than a 40-yarder on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, behind Domingue, LSU’s kicking game appears to be in a much better place. A junior from Mandeville, La., Domingue has hit all 9 of his attempts this season, including a career-long 45-yarder in a 44-22 win over Eastern Michigan on Oct. 3. He has less game experience than Griffith does (Domingue had only 4 attempts and made 2 of them last year), but he’s definitely been more accurate than his Alabama counterpart.
Plus, Domingue has already proven he can execute a fake field goal to perfection as he did with his decisive 16-yard TD run in LSU’s 35-28 win over Florida on Oct. 17. He is also one of 20 semifinalists for the Lou Groza Award, which goes to the nation’s top placekicker.
Unfortunately for both kickers, rain is in the forecast for Tuscaloosa this weekend. But if the weather gets too bad, it might bench both of them anyway. So the ideal scenario would have one of the teams leading by a big enough margin whereby the game won’t have to be decided by either Griffith or Domingue.
With all due respect to both teams’ defenses, here’s hoping we don’t get another 9-6 final with a bunch of missed field goal attempts. That would be a real kick in the teeth.
Stan Chrapowicki is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football, Alabama and Auburn.
