Sam Leavitt took the shotgun snap with the game on the line.

LSU trailed Alabama by four points early in the fourth quarter and was eager to respond after the Crimson Tide had retaken the lead. It was fourth-and-3 in Alabama territory for a pivotal play during the biggest game of LSU’s season.

Alabama sent five rushers at Leavitt: two linebackers and three defensive linemen. Caleb Woodson was one of the linebackers, crashing in from Leavitt’s right and into center Braelin Moore and right guard Aliou Bah.

Moore and Bah held off Woodson momentarily, but Moore quickly got off the block to pursue other rushers, leaving Bah to fend off Woodson himself. Bah didn’t get beat, but he ceded enough ground to the linebacker that he was nearly in Leavitt’s face.

Getting close to Leavitt was all Woodson needed. He stuck his hand in the air and batted down the pass, which forced LSU into its second turnover on downs of the night.

LSU went on to lose the game 31-13. Woodson’s fourth-down pressure was one of a handful of catastrophic fourth-quarter plays that doomed the Tigers, who led 13-10 late in the third quarter before collapsing.

The loss dropped the Tigers to 6-3 and put them on the precipice of missing the College Football Playoff. They won’t have any margin for error over their final three games, beginning Saturday when LSU hosts Texas (6:30 p.m., ABC).

“I think (Texas is) getting healthy at the right time, really like Alabama did last week, too,” LSU coach Lane Kiffin said. “These guys over the years have done a great job signing high school players, developing them and then adding great portal players.”

The loss to Alabama mostly came down to an offense that turned the ball over on downs four times, found the end zone only once on four trips to the red zone, and scored just 13 points despite accumulating nearly 500 yards.

Fixing those issues won’t be straightforward, especially given the offensive line's leaky play against strong competition.

According to Pro Football Focus, LSU’s losses to Ole Miss, Alabama and Kentucky — all top-20 teams in the latest College Football Playoff rankings — are the only instances this season where Leavitt has been pressured more than 15 times in a game.

Against Alabama, per PFF, Moore and right tackle Weston Davis surrendered four pressures apiece. After Davis left the game with a lower-body injury, his replacement — Sean Thompkins — allowed two more pressures on 23 pass-blocking snaps.

Texas may be the Southeastern Conference team best equipped to exploit LSU’s weakness. Edge rusher Colin Simmons has 10.5 sacks in just seven games, and the Longhorns have 27 sacks as a team — only Georgia, LSU and Tennessee have more in the SEC.

“Throw quick, throw screens, run the ball well,” Kiffin said when asked how LSU can scheme around Texas’ dangerous pass rush. “But outside of that, it would be pretty schematical.”

Simmons played only 18 snaps last week against Missouri, according to PFF, and missed the previous two games with a high-ankle sprain, but Kiffin understands how big of a problem he can be for LSU.

“Obviously, if Colin plays,” Kiffin said, “he’s one of the premier players at any position in college football.”

Not all of the offensive problems can be attributed to pass-protection deficiencies. The Tigers averaged only 3.7 yards per carry against Alabama, not including lost sack yardage. There were also moments when Leavitt held onto the ball for too long or was too eager to leave the pocket.

But his offensive line hasn’t done him any favors whenever LSU has played a quality opponent. The offense has looked dominant against lesser defenses, including Mississippi State, Texas A&M and Auburn, in part because of the time he was afforded to make plays downfield.

Whether the LSU offensive line can pull off a similar feat against Texas is dubious, but the unit will need to improve to keep the Tigers’ playoff hopes alive.

“We’ve got to understand the situation that we’re in,” safety Ty Benefield said. “But we can’t focus on it.”