• By GARY LANEY
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Nov 9, 2009

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LSU entered Saturday’s game at Alabama as one of the least penalized teams in the Southeastern Conference.

However, not only did the Tigers lose the penalty phase in Saturday’s 24-15 loss at Bryant-Denny Stadium — LSU had eight penalties for 43 yards and Alabama four for 20 — the Tigers’ penalties led to a lot of missing yards as well.

LSU had about 40 yards and two of its better offensive plays canceled by infractions:

n On the second possession, a 28-yard Jordan Jefferson-to-Brandon LaFell pass was negated by an illegal formation. The play would have moved the ball to the Tigers’ 39-yard-line. Instead, they stalled and punted from their 3.

-- On LSU’s first possession of the second half, Jefferson took an intentional grounding penalty that killed momentum. Jefferson was also knocked out of the game on the play.

Linebacker Nico Johnson’s hit caused Jefferson to land awkwardly on his right ankle. Had Jefferson thrown the ball close to a receiver, LSU would have had second-and-10 at the Alabama 46 instead of second-and-25 at the LSU 39.

-- Three plays after the intentional grounding, LSU appeared to convert a first down anyway. On a fourth-and-5, backup quarterback Jarrett Lee hit R.J. Jackson for about 10 yards and a first down. But LSU was penalized for a false start, negating the first down and forcing a punt.

-- LSU also suffered a pivotal penalty on special teams.

With LSU trailing 21-15 in the fourth quarter, Alabama punted from the 50 when special teams ace Daniel Graff broke free but somehow missed P.J. Fitzgerald’s kick and bumped into Fitzgerald, drawing a 5-yard, running-into-the-kicker flag.

That set off a chain of events that put the game out of reach for LSU.

The penalty turned a fourth-and-6 to a fourth-and-less-than-1 just inside the LSU 45 — Alabama was awarded a generous spot — and Saban decided to go for a first down instead of punting. Ingram lined up in the Wildcat formation and converted with a 2-yard gain.

Three plays later, LSU’s Patrick Peterson appeared to intercept a McElroy pass on the right sideline, but he was ruled out of bounds and the call was not overturned on official review.

Five plays after Peterson’s near-miss, Leigh Tiffin hit a 40-yard field goal to give Alabama a 24-15 lead with 3:04 left.