Happy Friday, everyone. It’s LSU week, but this year doesn’t have quite the same buzz as usual after the firing of Brian Kelly. Your previews:
Alabama might be fourth in the College Football Playoff rankings,
but to keep hammering this home – Florida State, Georgia, South Carolina, Missouri. Obviously, the FSU game was a loss, and the other three were way too close to going the other way.
But all of those were on the road, and yeah, Alabama seems to know how to pull tight games out of the fire. LSU will make this a whale of a battle, but it’ll start to burn out early in the fourth quarter.
Once again, that’s when the Tide will rise.
Alabama 27, LSU 23
LSU is in absolute institutional turmoil following the dismissal of coach Brian Kelly, which came on the heels of an embarrassing home loss to Texas A&M. The Tigers have no running game, shoddy pass protection and a quarterback who appears to be struggling with confidence. What about the defense? A unit that gave up 10 points or less in its first four games has looked far more vulnerable against quality opposition. Alabama presents arguably the toughest test yet. Look for the Crimson Tide to cruise at home. Pick: Alabama -10
LSU is not the overwhelming force of years past. It’s a program of change, one that will take the field at Bryant-Denny Stadium led by an interim coach and a new offensive play caller. On paper, LSU has one of the better pass games in the SEC led by quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, and one of the worst run games in the conference. The Tigers are also one of seven teams in the SEC to allow less than 20 points per game, bringing one of the better pass defenses in the conference to Tuscaloosa. But in LSU’s last three games against ranked opponents — Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M — the Tigers have allowed 399 yards or more. None of this has to do with Alabama, a program looking to capitalize on the edge its carried all season, an offense looking for an uptick in rush offense production with a Heisman candidate at quarterback in typical Simpson, a defense that continues to try and make a statement with its improved pass rush. Expect Alabama to pick up where it left off. No. 4 Alabama 32, LSU 21
“Do we really trust LSU’s offense? I get it. Bama’s not perfect, but they’re better than LSU. LSU stinks, guys. I don’t know how else to put it. They’re not a good football team. That’s why Brian Kelly was fired, and I don’t believe they’re going to go on the road and all of a sudden stun Alabama. There’s been no evidence that all the sudden, they’re going to get this together.
“Meanwhile, the evidence suggests that Bama will continue to play well. They’ve gotten better in areas of weakness. They continue to be great in areas of strength, namely throwing the football
Scott Rabalais
Alabama 27, LSU 20
I’m not going to venture out onto the upset limb, but I do think LSU’s Fighting Frank Wilsons will give a much better accounting of themselves than they did against Texas A&M. The pressure and uncertainty is off, for now, for the Tigers, and I think they will get that familiar interim coach bump. LSU carries the fight to Bama into the fourth quarter, but a late drive to force overtime fizzles.
That last one is from the New Orleans Advocate.
You never know what a team will look like immediately following a coaching change. LSU has plenty of talent on the roster, and the defense is tough. Alabama is playing at home though, and they’ve played markedly better there. The crowd should be raucous, a banged up WR corps has gotten healthy, and the Tide should roll. I’m going with 34-17 for this one.
Of course, that is merely my opinion. Our polling feature is down at the moment, but share yours with us in the comments.
Colin Gay thinks Ty Simpson can find some success tomorrow night.
LSU will be the fourth pass defense the Alabama quarterback has seen that is ranked in the top-50 nationally, joining Florida State, Missouri and South Carolina. Against each, Simpson has surpassed the average passing yards allowed by at least 44 yards.
Against each of the eight passing defenses Simpson has faced, he has recorded more passing yards than those defenses have allowed on average seven times.
The only team to force Simpson to less was Louisiana-Monroe. But while the Warhawks limited Simpson to 226 yards passing overall on 17 straight completions, the defense allowed 145 more yards combined from Austin Mack and Keelon Russell.
Last, former Alabama All-American linebacker Woodrow Lowe passed away.
Alabama won the SEC championship every year of Lowe’s career. The Crimson Tide teams he played on went a combined 43-5, with only one loss in SEC play (against Auburn his freshman year).
“At Alabama, we had great expectations,” Lowe told AL.com in a 2015 interview. “It was never, ever about me. It was always about the team, the program and the organization. The thing that I thrive off even today was we were a team. Your teammates knew the expectations.”
After playing in the 1976 Senior Bowl in Mobile, Lowe was selected in the fifth round of the NFL draft by San Diego. He played his entire 11-year career with the Chargers, and started 151 of a possible 168 games.
That’s about it for today. Have a great weekend.
Roll Tide.
