Injuries hit Tigers hard against Tide

• By GARY LANEY
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Nov 8, 2009

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TUSACLOOSA, Ala. — Jordan Jefferson was knocked out of the game after taking a hard hit trying to throw the ball away. Charles Scott was out with a collarbone injury. You never knew if Patrick Peterson was going to be in the game or not.

Saturday’s 24-15 loss to Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium was not only crippling to LSU’s Southeastern Conference championship hopes, it was also damaging, period.

LSU had at least five players helped off the field at various times, and the Tigers’ leading passer and leading rusher were both out of the game down the stretch.

Jefferson was knocked out of the game with a right ankle sprain after taking a hit from blitzing linebacker Nico Johnson midway through the third quarter on a play where Jefferson was called for intentional grounding. It was the second time Jefferson had been shaken up after taking a hit and, unlike the first time, he did not return to the game.

Jefferson said after the game that he will return for next week’s game against Louisiana Tech.

On LSU’s next possession, running back Scott went up the middle for 34 yards, his longest run of the season by a yard, but went down at the end of the run with what CBS reported as a broken collarbone. He left the stadium with his right arm in a sling.

Peterson, LSU’s star cornerback, was helped off the field three times as he struggled with cramps. When Alabama scored the winning touchdown on a 73-yard Greg McElroy-to-Julio Jones touchdown pass, Peterson was not in the game. Instead, starting strong safety Brandon Taylor had to play corner.

Taylor was on Jones when the Crimson Tide receiver caught a short screen pass, then made Taylor miss to take the pass the rest of the way.

LSU needed a lot of injury timeouts in the first half for key players

At various times, left tackle Ciron Black, Peterson, defensive end Pep Levingston and Jefferson all needed medical attention. All four returned to the game. Linebacker Perry Riley also retreated to the locker room at one point, but he came back and kept playing.

When Jefferson was shaken up after taking a hit in the chest by defensive end Brandon Deaderick late in the second quarter, LSU actually took a timeout so Jefferson could return to the game without having to sit out a play.

Defensive tackle Al Woods and offensive lineman T-Bob Hebert were also shaken up and needed help off the field in the second half.

The injury timeouts were far less frequent for Alabama. Cornerback-kick returner Javier Arenas was shaken up on a kick return in the second half, but returned shortly after.