At the end of the third quarter, the public-address announcer tried to fire up the crowd by noting that nightfall had descended on a stadium known for its raucous evening games.

“The sun has found its home in the western sky,” he said. “It’s now Saturday night in Death Valley!”

LSU responded, turning the game into a thriller. The embattled Lee, who heard boos from the home crowd as the errant passes piled up, guided a 14-play, 72-yard drive. The redshirt freshman completed four passes for 58 yards, including a 24-yarder to Brandon LaFell.

The bruising Scott took it in from the 1 for a 21-21 tie. He finished with 92 yards and a pair of TDs. Lee was 13-for-34 for 181 yards.

“There are a lot of mistakes that you just can’t make at this level of ball,” Lee said. “It’s something that for sure I need to work on.”

Early on, Alabama found itself in an unusual position: behind. Having trailed for only 1 minute, 15 seconds in its first nine games, the Tide went down 14-7 when Scott broke off a 30-yard touchdown run for the Tigers with just under 6 minutes left in the first quarter.

LSU scored two touchdowns in less than a minute, capitalizing on one of three Alabama turnovers in the first half.

After Lee threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Demetrius Bird, Javier Arenas had the ball knocked away on the ensuing kickoff return. Kicker Josh Jasper fell on the loose ball along the Alabama sideline, not far from Saban.

Scott got a huge block from left guard Herman Johnson and broke threw a gaping hole to score the touchdown that gave LSU its first lead.

Alabama was on the short end of the score until Lee made a familiar mistake. The young quarterback badly overthrew Terrance Tolliver, Johnson picked it off and went 54 yards for a touchdown — the sixth time this year Lee threw an interception that was returned for a TD.

The Tide fumbled away its opening possession just inches short of the end zone, but Johnson’s first interception gave Alabama the ball again at the LSU 15. Wilson turned that chance into a TD, shoving it in from the 1 for the first of his two TDs.

Alabama, which had outscored its first nine opponents 198-26 in the opening half, had to settle for a 14-all tie at the break.

“That was as lethargic a half of football as we have played all year,” Saban moaned. “We just didn’t look the same out there. We looked a bunch of guys who were tired.”

They were all jumping around at the end.

Also on NBCSports.com Howard: Look at what Agassi is now, not was PFT: Cowboys on rise in our power rankings NCAA FB: Ready for player exodus?  |    Top juniors   MLB blog: A look at the top 111 free agents Twitter: Follow us @nbc_sports

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