Alabama @ LSU – Alabama’s First Test Towards History?

BamaMan09 said:

Not saying they'll beat us but Miss. State and Auburn will be tough games. Last year was proof of that. They have good teams. Not great but they have talent especially on defense and their QBs could get hot. Provided we beat LSU this week and play in the SECCG, Georgia will be a very tough opponent as well. Having The Citadel in between Miss. State and Auburn will be a good thing for us so we can rest up. This will be a very tough stretch of games.

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I don't disagree that we are about to begin the toughest portion of the schedule. LSU is the toughest by far. However, if we're relatively healthy leaving that game, we will destroy MSU and Auburn. Both have defenses that could frustrate our offense, but neither has an offense that can hold up the other end of the bargain, and thus their defenses will fold as the game goes along. We'll score 45+ against both, and I don't see either of them being about to score 21 without help (turnovers).

Georgia/Kentucky in the SEC title game is a mystery, as are the playoffs, but they'll all be difficult games.

TideEngineer08 said:

I don't disagree that we are about to begin the toughest portion of the schedule. LSU is the toughest by far. However, if we're relatively healthy leaving that game, we will destroy MSU and Auburn. Both have defenses that could frustrate our offense, but neither has an offense that can hold up the other end of the bargain, and thus their defenses will fold as the game goes along. We'll score 45+ against both, and I don't see either of them being about to score 21 without help (turnovers).

Georgia/Kentucky in the SEC title game is a mystery, as are the playoffs, but they'll all be difficult games.

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This is what hurt so badly last year. We had numerous players get injured in the LSU game. It was extremely physical contest even though we won. Orgeron is hardcore and I expect a complete dog fight on Saturday.

Yes they have...SYRACUSE.
sarcasm inserted

Going into this game I feel like LSU is overrated. This is the same old LSU team as before, maybe even not as good.

QB - not good.
RBs - Good, but there's no Guice, LF, or even Jeremy Hill
WRs - No OBJ here
O-line - Ehhh

The defense is solid, but then again, it's *always* solid.

On paper Bama should win by 3+ TDs.

Of course, weird things happen (I was at the Ole Miss game when Bama fumbled TWO kickoffs), but if this game is played 100 times, Bama probably wins 95 or so of them.

I think we will know very early how this game will go. If Bama can move the ball and protect Tua then it's game over. LSU may come out and score early, but I'm not concerned about that, they can't consistently put points up.

BamaMan09 said:

Maybe not but State coming on the heels of LSU will be difficult like always. I just remember 2012 when we lost to A&M after playing a battle royale with LSU the week before. Hopefully that dosen't happen again. Fitzgerald is a very good RB. Auburn needs no explanation. However mediocre they've looked to this point won't matter. We'll get their best game. Georgia could be playing their best football if we end up matching up with them in the SECCG.

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Fixed that for you.

CoachJeff said:

Going into this game I feel like LSU is overrated. This is the same old LSU team as before, maybe even not as good.

QB - not good.
RBs - Good, but there's no Guice, LF, or even Jeremy Hill
WRs - No OBJ here
O-line - Ehhh

The defense is solid, but then again, it's *always* solid.

On paper Bama should win by 3+ TDs.

Of course, weird things happen (I was at the Ole Miss game when Bama fumbled TWO kickoffs), but if this game is played 100 times, Bama probably wins 95 or so of them.

I think we will know very early how this game will go. If Bama can move the ball and protect Tua then it's game over. LSU may come out and score early, but I'm not concerned about that, they can't consistently put points up.

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I'm not sure their defensive front is as dominant as it has been in recent years. Their pass rush isn't as good for sure. Losing Devin White is massive because he's a great player that plays all over the field. Alabama has to take advantage of that. Their DBs are very good as always but I'm not as sold on their front seven and Alabama's offensive line is terrific.

Just want to follow through this year. 2016 almost did it. One second away.

saturdaysarebet said:

Not after this game Selmab. Everyone knows that playing in Baton Rouge is a tough game (one of the toughest road environments in all of cfb) and how can anyone say beating a team ranked #4 in the country at their place in November with 2/3rds of the season in the books, that Bama doesn't play anybody?

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I hate to bust your bubble but FACTS rarely play into talking heads bashing our schedule. Look at who we have played and look at where they stand today. Sorry but even easy SEC schedule is tougher than most conference schedules. As one guy on ESPN said about Tua, most cannot match those numbers playing in practice with no defense on the field. To toss 70% plus completions to a guy with no coverage is still pretty good.

RT27 said:

I hate to bust your bubble but FACTS rarely play into talking heads bashing our schedule. Look at who we have played and look at where they stand today. Sorry but even easy SEC schedule is tougher than most conference schedules. As one guy on ESPN said about Tua, most cannot match those numbers playing in practice with no defense on the field. To toss 70% plus completions to a guy with no coverage is still pretty good.

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What talking heads are you even talking about? Everyone from Herbstreit to Jessie Palmer to Joey Galloway praise this Bama team relentlessly.

There will always be hacks like Danny Kannell who push a pro-ACC anti-SEC slant because it's part of their shtick but pretty much every analyst worth anything has basically praised us as a juggernaut unlikely to lose this year.

I'm breaking this down by stats, and while I realize numbers don't play the game, they do tend to point in a particular direction.

Much is being made of "LSU held Georgia to 16 points," which is true so far as it goes. Georgia averages 38 ppg (corrected 39) and 475 yards (LSU holding them to 322). So LSU held UGA to 42% of their usual points and 67.7% of their usual yardage. If they are AS SUCCESSFUL against us as against UGA, we will score 22 points and total 382 yards.

What that suggests to me is that LSU - if they play as well as against UGA - has to score 23 points in order to win (and keep in mind that's ASSUMING we turn the ball over four times, which is very unlikely).

IOW - it seems to me LSU's ability to win likely requires 23 or more points.


I don't think they can do that.

RollTide_HTTR said:

"LSU is terrible, Burrow is terrible, they haven't played anyone with a real offense!"

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If Burrow were half as good as Tua, he'd be the starter at tOSU.