Tigers want sacks

• By GARY LANEY
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Oct 7, 2009 - Page: 1C

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Rahim Alem had his hands on Georgia quarterback Joe Cox in the Georgia end zone early in the fourth quarter of LSU’s 20-13 win Saturday, and if he could have finished the sack, it would have meant a safety for Alem’s Tigers.

Instead, the LSU defensive end had to settle for an incompletion.

It was third-and-7 when Alem beat his man and wrapped up Cox, who was flushed just to the left of the pocket, and commenced to spin him around to the ground. But the Bulldogs quarterback, even with Alem grabbing his arm, somehow flung a wounded duck out of bounds, avoiding an intentional grounding penalty because he was outside the tackle box.

For Alem, he had nothing to show for his effort but the satisfaction of stopping the opponent and forcing a punt. No sack, no tackle. And with the game on the road where defensive players are far less likely to get credit for a subjective statistic like a quarterback hurry, he didn’t even get credit for that.

“It’s frustrating, but the good thing is when you play defensive end, it almost does count,” Alem said. “Even though I’m not getting there, it still counts for something. Pressures, y’all write that stuff down, pressures or hurry, plus it affects (the quarterback’s) game.”

Alem’s play was indicative of three weeks for LSU’s  pass rush.

The fourth-ranked Tigers (5-0, 3-0 in the Southeastern Conference) — who host top-ranked Florida (4-0, 2-0) Saturday — have not had a sack since defeating Vanderbilt in the second game. LSU has gone entire games against Louisiana-Lafayette, Mississippi State and Georgia without a sack.

What’s interesting about that stretch is it has also marked a period when the Tigers defense has otherwise been outstanding.

ULL failed to score a touchdown.

In the first half of the Georgia game, the Bulldogs managed just one first down, prompting safety Chad Jones to say it was the best half of defense LSU has played in his career.

Just without a sack.

“I can tell you that if the defense plays like they did last week, I’ll accept the inability to get to the passer,” coach Les Miles said.

After all, the Tigers have been productive in other areas. They intercepted Mississippi State quarterback Tyson Lee three times and got two picks off Chris Masson of ULL.