BATON ROUGE, Louisiana– It took two drives instead of one, but No. 3 LSU’s defense was still no match fro No. 1 Alabama’s offense in the 29-0 win, the largest victory by either side of the rivalry in 16 years.

The Crimson Tide’s streak of scoring a touchdown on every opening drive came to an end with back-to-back false starts as the Death Valley crowd noise surpassed 109 dB.

On its next drive, though, it was all back to normal. Najee Harris dragged several LSU defenders on a 28-yard gain and Tua Tagovailoa completed all four passes, including a 15-yard score to Henry Ruggs III.

It was the sophomore receiver’s eighth touchdown of the year, tying him for the fifth-most receiving touchdowns in a season in Alabama history.

College football’s most prolific offense cruised from there, racking up 295 passing yards, its most at Tiger Stadium since at least 2000, and 576 total.

“I was really, really pleased with the explosive plays we were able to make, and we really controlled the tempo of the game,” coach Nick Saban said. “I think we took the crowd out of the game a little bit.”

Other players said as much. Tiger Stadium, or “Death Valley”, as it’s often called, is renowned for having one of the most electric atmospheres in college football, but that didn’t last long on a night college football’s No. 1 team silenced critiques that it hadn’t yet played a worthy adversary.

“This was definitely an opportunity,” sophomore wide receiver Jerry Jeudy said. “All we hear is we ain’t played nobody yet, but now we finally played somebody and now we showed what we can do. We can play against anybody in the country.”

However, another illustrious streak did come to an end for the Crimson Tide. Tagovailoa threw his first interception of the season, breaking a string of 26 passing touchdowns without a pick, the second-longest string in the FBS over the last six seasons.

The Heisman front-runner threw a career-high 42 passes, but did not boast his usual double-take-inducing statistics. His 129.5 passer rating was easily his lowest of the season, and his 59.5 completion percentage was his second-lowest.

His grip on the Heisman Trophy, however, seemed to tighten, due in no small part to a 44-yard touchdown scramble in the third quarter on 3rd-and-8.

“I was just trying to get the first down,” Tagovailoa said. “There was a lot of open space still, so I just kept running and I scored. I galloped into the end zone.”

Alabama’s kicking game put a small damper on the excitement of the play, however, as Joseph Bulovas’ too-low extra point attempt was blocked. Another attempt was blocked earlier in the game, but Saban attributed it to the holder having trouble with the snap.

LSU linebacker Devin White, a member of the SEC First-Team last season, missed the first half with a suspension from a targeting call last week. White made eight total tackles in the second half, but not all Alabama players thought it made much of a difference.

“That didn’t really affect us, him not being on the field,” junior tight end Irv Smith Jr. said. “We just wanted to come out and just establish our identity and establish a run.”

Establish the run, it did. Alabama’s 281 rushing yards was its most since last October against Arkansas. Senior running back Damien Harris tied a career high with 19 carries and the team totaled nine runs of at least 10 yards.

The Crimson Tide closed the game with nine consecutive runs. Its penultimate drive took more than five minutes off the clock, and it bled the final 2:07 off to ice the game.

With the win, Alabama clinched the SEC West, meaning it will return to the SEC Championship Game for the fourth time in five years on Dec. 1. The game will be a rematch of last year’s national championship, as the Georgia Bulldogs clinched the SEC East earlier in the day.