The night cap to a great week of football, we get to see a rivalry that always has national title implications. The Tigers still have a chance to snag the SEC West crown, but only if they are able to beat the Tide this weekend. Alabama has no margin for error either if they hope to reach the big title game again.
Both LSU and Alabama struggled early on this season with their defense's allowing too many yards and points. But was it just high expectations?
At least for Alabama it's seemed to be. Besides a matchup against Texas A&M, the Tide has been able to lock down opposing offenses with just two other teams averaging better tha four yards per play. LSU on the other hand has been vulnerable, giving up some huge chunks of offense throughout the season. Its still been a very good year defensively, just not as dominating as we've come to expect from the Bayou.
From this, we can see the big culprit for LSU's greater variability. 14% of opponents plays have been big plays, which has allowed those teams to get to the red zone far too often. Alabama has been again one of the most lights out defense when not playing the Aggies. Theyve forced a ridiculous amount of punts this year, 60% of opponents drives have ended with one. They dont let you get to the red zone, and they shut teams down when they get their as well.
Offensively though, LSU quietly is one of the best in the nation. They only go three and out on 19.8% of their drives, and have only averaged less than 30 per drive once.
Alabama continues to get a majority of their big plays on the ground, with AJ McCarron posting a 21.5% big play rate.
This game should be a bit more open than it has the past few years, but the bets matchu up will be to see how the LSU offense can take advantage of an Alabama defense that has shown a few games worth of vulnerability. If they can't, their defense will fall victim to the grinding Alabama offense.
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