The No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide shut out the No. 13 LSU Tigers on Saturday night, 10-0. Here are the three biggest takeaways from this SEC West rivalry game.
Five years ago, it was The Game of the Century. On Saturday night, we got another low-scoring affair between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the LSU Tigers. Alabama was able to knock off the Tigers in Death Valley, 10-0 to stay undefeated.
Here are the three biggest takeaways from this huge SEC West rivalry game:
1. That Alabama pass rush is historically good.
It’s something we probably already knew, but the 2016 Alabama Crimson Tide pass rush might be one of the best that college football has ever seen.
Star defensive end Jonathan Allen is a Top 10 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. Dalvin Tomlinson, Reuben Foster, and Ryan Anderson are all elite front seven players for the Crimson Tide.
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Alabama has its warts as a football team, but its vaunted pass rush does a fantastic job of covering them up. It makes the secondary look better than what it probably is. Yes, Alabama’s secondary is tremendously well-coached, but why do so many former Crimson Tide defensive backs fizzle out in the NFL?
Regardless, this pass rush will take the 2016 Alabama team as far as the front seven is willing to take it. Is there an offensive line that can contain this unit? Probably not. It’s historically good, possibly the best Nick Saban has had while in Tuscaloosa.
2. Coach O needs to be the full-time LSU coach.
Though they were shut out at home by the No. 1 team in the nation, the LSU Tigers need to end their head coaching search immediately. The only guy for the job is the interim head coach Ed Orgeron. He’s earned the right to coach the Tigers full-time in 2017.
What else does LSU need to see from its interim head coach to know he’s the guy for the job? Coach O had a fantastic defensive game plan, the side of the ball he specializes on, shutting out Alabama at home for three quarters.
Would Les Miles have been able to do as well as Orgeron did on Saturday night? Maybe, but Orgeron feels like LSU football. Don’t be cute and hire the cool, offensive-mined head coach from Texas that likes to run the Air Raid, LSU. You have your next head coach in Orgeron. He did as good of a job as any does against Saban.
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3. Are we sure Alabama is going to win the College Football Playoff?
Alabama is the best team in the SEC. We probably knew that any way before the start of this game. Assuming the Crimson Tide can beat the arch rival Auburn Tigers in the Iron Bowl, Alabama is going to the SEC Championship for the third straight season. They will obliterate whomever comes out of the SEC East in the Georgia Dome.
What we do need to think about for a second is if Alabama is good enough to win the 2017 College Football Playoff? The Crimson Tide would be favored over every team it plays the rest of the way, but are we sure they’d top the Michigan Wolverines, the Clemson Tigers, or some other team of that upper echelon?
The Alabama pass rush will keep them in games, but the running game outside of Jalen Hurts has been pretty inconsistent all season. Ball security will ultimately be the deciding factor in Alabama’s quest for back-to-back national titles. Alabama should be the favorite, but it’s not an absolute certainty the Crimson Tide will win it all in January.