If a rolling stone gathers no moss, the unmovable boulder that is the Alabama defense gathers more moss than a Louisiana bayou.
The Crimson Tide ranks No. 1 in scoring defense, only allowing 9.8 points per game, No. 7 in rushing yards allowed with 101.9 yards, No. 8 in passing efficiency defense with a 103.99 rating and No. 2 with 114 first downs allowed through eight games.
No one is more aware of this than the LSU football team, which travels to Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Saturday to attempt an overthrow of Alabama coach Nick Saban’s reign on college football.
“Alabama’s defense is always going to be one of the top defenses in the nation,” said junior wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. “They have some great guys over there and they do a lot of stuff as a team to keep offenses from scoring and putting their offense in a position to score.”
In recent years, the Southeastern Conference Western Division rivals have bludgeoned each other in defensive struggles. Last season’s 21-17 contest is the closest thing to an offensive shootout between the two squads in the past three meetings — with 2011’s 9-6 clash as a stark contrast.
But this year, the rivalry may tell a different tale as the Tigers are no longer a program relying on the solidarity of its defense, but instead, able to lean on its offensive production.
Senior fullback J.C. Copeland said the matchup will continue its contemporary trend and be the most physical of his brief tenure with the Tigers.
But Beckham thinks Saturday’s game will turn a new chapter in the rivalry’s history as the Tigers fulfill the “unstoppable force” role.
“I’m planning on it being an offensive game,” Beckham said. “Whoever’s defense can come up with the turnovers and the offense is converting on third downs [will win].”
LSU is No. 5 nationally in passing efficiency with a 176.48 rating and No. 2 in third down conversions with a .576 completion rate — Alabama is No. 7 in third-down defense with .295.
“[Alabama’s defense] executes at a high level,” said senior quarterback Zach Mettenberger. “They don’t make a lot of mistakes and they have some of the best players in the country and obviously one of the best coaches in the country. It’s going to be about us making less errors on the field and capitalizing on the errors they do make.”
Beckham said he expects Alabama will attempt to play the same press-coverage defense they have in years past.
LSU hasn’t been particularly prolific through the air against the Tide in the past two seasons. A year ago, Death Valley saw the Tigers’ best passing performance with 296 yards and a touchdown. Both of the 2011 meetings failed to make any waves on the stat sheet, with a combined total of 144 yards.
This season however, Mettenberger enters the game eight yards shy of becoming the first passer in program history to throw for 2,500 yards in consecutive seasons and Beckham is No. 2 in the nation with 1,866 all-purpose yards — 254 yards away from his own school record.
But junior wide receiver Jarvis Landry said the only column that matters on the stat sheet is wins.
“Its about the win,” Landry said. “I’ll take it 9-6, or 3-0. I’ll take it anyway we can. It’s about the win and that’s what we’re going there to get.”