LSU's chances of making the College Football Playoff in Lane Kiffin's first season are now incredibly faint.

No. 5 Alabama took over in the fourth quarter in a 31-13 win over the No. 14 Tigers. The Tide scored 21 straight points after LSU took its first lead of the game to turn a close game into a blowout.

The Tide led 17-13 early in the fourth quarter and they seized control after forcing a three-and-out deep in LSU territory. The fourth-and-1 might have been tempting enough for Kiffin to consider going for it, but he decided to punt from his own 16-yard line.

Alabama's Ryan Coleman-Williams, making his return after missing nearly a month with a knee injury, was back to receive the punt. He promptly returned the kick 32 yards to the LSU 25-yard line. The Tigers netted six yards on the kick.

And on the very next play, Keelon Russell found Cedarian Morgan for a two-score lead.

Kiffin soon faced another fourth-down decision after Morgan's TD. After a first-down sack put the Tigers behind the chains, LSU had fourth-and-10 at its own 25-yard line with just over eight minutes to go. This time, Kiffin chose to go for it.

Sam Leavitt was sacked for the second time in four plays.

Three plays after that sack, Russell threw his third touchdown of the game when he found Kaleb Edwards on the sideline for a 4-yard score.

After LSU won five straight games over the Crimson Tide from 2003 through 2007, Alabama has now won 16 of the last 20 matchups in the series. And LSU is just 2-7 in Baton Rouge over those 20 games.

LSU's fourth-down and red-zone struggles

You don't have to look too far to see how the game slipped away from LSU.

The Tigers went for it on fourth down four times. They failed to convert all four of those attempts. LSU also entered the red zone four times. The Tigers scored just one touchdown on those four trips.

The first fourth-down failure came in the second quarter after LSU had kicked a short field goal on its first drive and missed a 56-yard attempt on its second before Alabama went up 10-3.

Trailing by seven and needing four yards for a first down at the Alabama 9-yard line, Kiffin kept his offense on the field. However, Leavitt's pass to Trey'Dez Green was broken up and fell incomplete.

LSU had another chance to tie the game before halftime, but Leavitt was intercepted by Luke Metz with 28 seconds to go before the break. And Kiffin wasn't shy about pinning the blame for that pick on his quarterback, either.

Leavitt finished 35-of-47 passing for 380 yards but failed to find the end zone. All but seven of those completions went to three players; Jackson Harris had 11 catches, Green had 10 and RB Dilin Jones had seven.

LSU wasn't simply throwing a lot because the game got away from it in the fourth quarter, either. The Tigers struggled to run the ball, as they finished with 33 carries for 77 yards. Thanks to four sacks, Leavitt rushed 15 times for 16 yards.

Saturday's game was also his seventh of the season with an interception. If he adds to that total in the next two weeks, LSU's chances of making the playoff are likely shot.

The Tigers host No. 7 Texas in Week 11 before visiting No. 13 Tennessee in Week 12. Wins over both of those teams may very well be enough to get LSU into the playoff if the Tigers finish 9-3.

But the margin for error is now gone. Had LSU beaten Alabama, it could afford a loss to either Texas or Tennessee and still feel pretty good about its playoff chances. Instead, the Tigers have to be perfect the rest of the way. And given what we've seen over the first three quarters of the season, it's hard to see how LSU can do that.