Chris Macaluso
LSUsports.net
First-year LSU head coach Nick Saban has never had to lead his team onto the field at Tiger Stadium during the day time. But Saban still understands the significance. Saban has also never coached against Alabama.But he understands the significance.
This week he will get the opportunity to do both when his Tigers take a 5-3 overall record and a 3-2 Southeastern Conference mark into Saturday afternoon’s game against Alabama (3-5, 3-2). The game will be carried live to a Nation-wide audience by CBS at 2:30 p.m. CST.
Saban said the time in which the game is played should not matter to his team despite the historical perception that the Tigers don’t play well during the day.
“When we do good things, it gives our players the opportunity to play on TV and I think that’s a positive thing for the program and our players,” Saban said.
And the Tigers have been doing some “good” things. For instance, defeating 11th ranked Tennessee 38-31 in overtime in week five of the season and defeating 13th ranked Mississippi State 45-38 in overtime in their last game. Both of those wins have helped the Tigers put themselves in position for a possible SEC Western Division title and a bowl game appearance.
Standing in the way of both those goals is the Alabama Crimson Tide, a team that has struggled throughout most of the season but played very well at times.
The Tide lost its last game to non-conference Central Florida 40-38 on a last second field goal. Alabama lost the week before 20-10 to conference rival Tennessee. Both losses came despite a tremendous 45-7 victory over Ole Miss on Oct. 14, in which the Tide completely dominated every aspect of the game.
“I think Alabama has a lot of good football players, there is no question about that.” Saban said. “Defensively, they are probably as athletic as anyone, they run well and their front seven are all good pass rushers.”
LSU will attempt to counter that Alabama defensive front with a powerful front of its own that dominated the tough Mississippi Sate defensive front in its last game. The Tigers were able to run for 228 yards and four touchdowns against the Bulldog run defense which is ranked first in the nation.
Saban said he hopes his team is able to build on its performance against the Bulldogs this week.
“I hope that our players don’t have the mind set don’t have the mind set of being satisfied with where they are now,” he said. “They haven’t presented themselves that way, but psychologically we need to focus on all of the things that we need to do.”
The psychological aspect of the game may be the biggest impediment to this Tiger team against Alabama considering LSU hasn’t won a game in the series in Tiger Stadium since 1969. Alabama has dominated the overall series record as well 42-16-5. LSU’s last defeated the Tide in 1997 in Tuscaloosa by a 27-0 mark.
Saban said he hopes none of that will matter when his team plays Alabama Saturday.
“We just need to have the crowd behind us in the daytime this week,” he said. “This is a big game. The only thing is we’ll to start earlier and get up earlier for the tailgating or even come out the night before and do midnight shifts or whatever it takes. Let’s just get the stadium rocking by 2:30 p.m.”