The LSU Tigers leapfrogged the Alabama Crimson Tide in the latest AP Top 25 Poll. Of course, that is going to motivate Nick Saban’s team in two weeks.
It’s as close as you could get, but the LSU Tigers have edged out the Alabama Crimson Tide for the top spot in the latest AP Top 25 Poll. Both SEC West teams are 8-0 through Week 9 of the season and will meet in Tuscaloosa on Nov. 9 to decide who’s going to Atlanta in December. LSU had Alabama by two votes in the latest AP Poll, but the Tide will take that slight personally.
“You got LSU who has been one of the great stories this season and Joe Burrow and this new offense,” ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit told FanSided’s, Patrick Schmidt. “It feels a little different. I almost wonder if there’s so much positive talk about LSU that it’s going to be put Bama in an underdog mindset which is only going to fire them up more to play their best.”
So it will be No. 2 hosting No. 1 in a clash of unbeatens in this year’s Game of the Century. Alabama just slaughtered the awful Arkansas Razorbacks in Week 9 to stay perfect and the Tide did so with a backup quarterback in Mac Jones. While Jones played well, he’s not Tua Tagovailoa, who is expected be back for the Tide by the time they face the Bayou Bengals in two weeks.
While many expected Alabama would be the No. 1 team in the land at some point this year, it was a short-lived spot atop college football’s highest perch. The Tide keep winning with smothering defense and making great plays in the passing game. However, it seems that Alabama fatigue got the best of the AP voters last week. LSU is new, fun, shiny and exciting, so the Tigers are No. 1.
The Bayou Bengals have a Heisman frontrunner at quarterback in Joe Burrow, the most beloved boisterous ball coach this side of the Mississippi River in Ed Orgeron and they’re the No. 1 team in the land heading into Bryant-Denny Stadium to face a division rival they haven’t beaten in eight years. Expect Nick Saban and the entire Tide staff to have his team ready to play in two weeks.
“I think the one thing about this game is when Alabama is home, I don’t care who they’re playing, and Nick Saban is the coach, and they have a top two or three team, it’s hard to envision anyone being a favorite over Alabama, Herbstreit tells FanSided.”
Alabama doesn’t need any extra bulletin board material. So what if people question if Tua is being rushed back from his tight-rope surgery to repair a high ankle sprain? So what if people haven’t been impressed by Alabama’s lackluster schedule so far? All that matters is that Alabama is undefeated and fell to No. 2, while a team that hasn’t beat them in eight years moves up to No. 1.
Every day, Saban should remind his players beating the snot out of the Hogs wasn’t good enough to stay No. 1. LSU won something called the Tiger Bowl and gets to celebrate by being the supreme big cats of college football.
“If we assume Tua is back and not limping around through the game and playing at his level, I don’t think LSU can stop Tua and that offense,” Herbstreit said. “And I don’t think Alabama can stop Burrow and the LSU offense.”
“What’s unusual about the 2019 LSU-Alabama game is we’re used to low scoring, field position, good defense, running the football. Not this year. It’s going to be wide-open. Big 12 style. And I think you’re going to see both quarterbacks dice up each defense.”
Kirk Herbstreit joined FanSided on behalf of Allstate where Kirk predicts the Allstate Mayhem Moment every Tuesday and to talk about the Allstate Playoff Predictor.
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