The emotions of an LSU fan tend to fluctuate throughout any given football season.
Less than a month ago, the Tigers suffered a 27-point loss to now-No. 1 Tennessee to fall to 4-2 on the year, an opponent that was just the beginning of their hardest stretch of the season. This was a game riddled with inconsistency and correctable mistakes, foreshadowed by their near loss to Auburn a week prior, and the reaction afterwards was negative to say the least.
The ‘I told you so’(s) of fans who had initially written Brian Kelly off echoed throughout social media. Once again, a Kelly-led team had struggled against a playoff contender, a common occurrence during his times with Notre Dame and Cincinnati.
The team still had its win over Mississippi State, who was rising in the rankings at the time, but that felt like a much different team than what many had observed against Auburn and Tennessee. LSU had seemingly regressed, making the outlook for the rest of the season bleak and hard to predict.
If you had told people then that LSU would enter its matchup with Alabama ranked in the Top-10 of the College Football Playoff rankings, many would’ve called you crazy. For fans, players and even coaches, reality is probably hitting in a far different way than it has the last two seasons entering its matchup with Alabama.
The Tigers are one win away from contending for the playoff, and their outlook has completely changed on both sides of the ball.
On offense, quarterback Jayden Daniels has put up Heisman numbers through the last two games, totaling nearly 400 yards against Florida and Ole Miss and completing over 70% of his passes in each. Most notably, he scored more combined touchdowns through those two games than the previous six, including back-to-back hat tricks on the ground.
“I think there’s a better understanding of where [the receivers] are going to be and what they’re going to do,” Kelly said on the progression of Daniels. “He can get the ball out of his hands now without the receiver being out of his break. That just takes time, and we didn’t have that time earlier in the season.”
The run game has also prospered lately thanks to the emergence of Josh Williams as a viable starter, along with the recent return of Armoni Goodwin and flashes of potential from John Emery Jr. Daniels, who broke multiple LSU QB rushing records against Ole Miss, still leads the team in rushing yards, but the committee is beginning to make more of an impact.
That has come despite the consistent changes on the offensive line, which has endured injuries throughout the season. Defensive lineman Mekhi Wingo credited Offensive Line Coach Brad Davis for maintaining viable structure there despite the injuries.
“[Davis] pushes them every single day in practice and I’ve just seen them from camp to now, they’ve grown tremendously,” Wingo stated. “They’re taking it seriously in practice and we’re giving them good looks, going at it in practice and that’s the big thing.”
LSU will be facing a defense that possesses one of the best linebacker rooms in the country. Outside linebacker Will Anderson likely would’ve been the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft had he been eligible, and Dallas Turner is effective at the other outside linebacker position. Henry To’oto’o and Jaylen Moody round out the remaining starters at linebacker, with the former also being considered one of the best at his position.
The secondary has displayed cracks throughout the season, particularly against Tennessee and Texas, but it seemed to have mended them by the time it faced the air raid of Mississippi State. It held the normally efficient Bulldog offense to a 50% completion rate and less than four yards per pass attempt. That correlated with Saban finally deciding to start former LSU All-American cornerback Eli Ricks.
It’ll be interesting to see him face off against Kayshon Boutte, who kept his response simple when asked about the prospect of going up against his former teammate.
“We’re not really focused on [Ricks] specifically, but he’s a great cornerback,” Boutte said.
Speaking of secondaries, the LSU secondary will have a key contributor back in the lineup this weekend in safety Major Burns. Burns is one of the most impactful players on the team, consistently being described as a vocal leader on the defense while also displaying skillfulness against both the run and the pass.
“He’s a huge communicator,” cornerback Mekhi Garner said on Burns. “He brings life to the defensive side when he’s on the field.”
With Burns being out since LSU’s game against New Mexico, the rest of the upper rotation in the secondary has garnered plenty of fruitful experience. Joe Foucha stepped into Burns’s role and improved each week, contributing his best performance in the Tigers’ most recent bout against Ole Miss.
“We handled it well, Joe [Foucha] stepped in and played great if you ask me,” Garner mentioned when asked about how the secondary performed without Burns. “It’s next man up if you ask me.”
They will have one of their toughest battles of the season on Saturday, facing another potential No. 1 overall pick in quarterback Bryce Young, along with a multitude of quick, skillful receivers. Young doesn’t just put up impressive stats, he has the innate ability to make something out of nothing whenever a play breaks down, and that’s difficult to deal with as a secondary.
“[The key against him is] staying in coverage,” Garner said on Young. “He makes a lot of plays when the defense is not in position, trying to tackle him when he scrambles when he’s really trying to throw the ball.”
The Tide offense also features one of the most versatile running backs in the country in Jahmyr Gibbs, who’s rushing for nearly 7 yards per attempt while also helping considerably in the pass game.
“He’s very electric and good at making the first guy miss,” Wingo said on Gibbs. “So [you’ve got to] rally to the ball and don’t let him get out of his brakes to cutting and braking. Just hustle to the ball and that’ll take care of everything.”
At the time of writing this, the Tigers come into this game as 13.5-point underdogs with the chance to shock the world in Brian Kelly’s first year as head coach. Whatever happens on Saturday, the team will still be in great shape to exceed preseason expectations.
