Alabama thrives on its opponents’ mistakes.
Nick Saban has created a culture in Tuscaloosa that makes the most of miniscule mistakes and limits lapses of its own.
When LSU fell to the Crimson Tide last fall, LSU junior fullback J.D. Moore said it was the result of Alabama making the most of the Tigers’ errors.
“What it really comes down to is not that we didn’t play hard,” he said. “It’s not that we didn’t have the will to win. It was a matter of putting ourselves in bad positions and not executing. We shot ourselves in the foot too many times and allowed them to dominate us.”
When Alabama faces off against No. 13 LSU at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Tiger Stadium, there’s a sense that the Tigers have to be in perfect order to take down the Southeastern Conference’s lone remaining undefeated team.
But no team is perfect, Moore said. Even Alabama, the No. 1 team that accumulates nearly 500 yards per game and has the nation’s most suppressive rushing defense, isn’t perfect.
“No team’s ever perfect — that’s just the way it is,” Moore said. “They make mistakes. We make mistakes. Whoever can eliminate those mistakes and execute well, that’s going to be a huge part of it.”
LSU proved it can hang with Alabama during its last home loss against the Tide in 2014. The Tigers were knocking on the door of victory with 1:10 remaining in the fourth quarter. After a T.J. Yeldon fumble, the Tigers were six yards away from paydirt and all but securing victory.
Then came a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which the Tide took full advantage of.
“It seemed like we had them, then the penalty ended up costing us that game,” senior tight end Colin Jeter said. “It’s kind of one of those things where you have something, and it just gets taken away from you. It’s frustrating, but they played the full 60 minutes and whatever extra time we played. They deserved that win.”
The key for the Tigers is taking care of the ball because more often than not, Alabama turns turnovers into six points. The Crimson Tide defense is responsible for 16 turnovers this season, nine of which were taken to the house for a touchdown.
Moore said all it takes is one Tiger making a poor block or bad read for Alabama to make Saturday another bad day.
If they keep their assignments in front of them and get junior running back Leonard Fournette one-on-one, though, it could be a bad day for Alabama, Jeter said.
“They’re technically sound. That’s the biggest thing about Alabama,” Jeter said. “They’re always well coached, and they don’t make very many mistakes. Those front guys, the three linemen and the two edge rushers, they’re all phenomenal players. And they take advantage of your mistakes almost all the time, so we can’t make those mistakes.”