BATON ROUGE — You can throw out the records and the rankings. You can throw out last week’s results — an LSU road win over eighth-ranked Tennessee and an Alabama loss to Mississippi State. It’s Alabama week and the 12th-ranked Tigers are expecting the best the Crimson Tide has to offer on Saturday night.
Kickoff for the contest between LSU and Alabama is set for 6:45 p.m. in a sold out Tiger Stadium. LSU, winners of three straight, brings a 7-2 overall mark and a 3-2 league record into the contest following last week’s thrilling 28-24 win over Tennessee. Alabama has dropped three of its last four games and stands at 6-4 overall and 2-4 in conference play. The game will be televised to a national audience by ESPN with Mike Patrick, Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe handling the call.
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Saturday’s LSU-Alabama game pits two teams going into the contest with different agendas. LSU goes into the game looking to remain alive for a berth in the SEC title game, while also keeping its hopes of getting a bid to a BCS Bowl game. The Crimson Tide has their backs against a wall and are looking to prove that last week’s loss to Mississippi State was a fluke.
“We are expecting Alabama to play its best game of the season and that’s the way this team has approached this game and that’s what we’ve prepared for all week,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “We’ve had a good week of practice. I like the intensity and the focus that our team has taken to the practice field each day. We are still looking to put together our best game of the season. We are looking for that complete game and it’s going to take a full 60 minutes of football on Saturday.”
Weather (Forecast)
GameTime Conditions: Clear
GameTime Temp: 54?
High: 67?
Low: 44?
Chance of Rain: 10%
Humidity: 64%
Wind: N @ 7 mph
Sunset: 5:10 p.m. CT
LSU vs. Alabama
Event Schedule
Saturday, Nov. 11
Time Event
Noon – LSU Ticket Office opens
4:15 p.m. – All gates to Tiger Stadium open
4:35 p.m. – LSU team walks down hill to locker room
5 p.m. – Mike the Tiger loaded and brought to Gate 11
5:15 p.m. – LSU band marches down hill to Tiger Stadium
6:47 p.m. – Kickoff: LSU vs. Alabama (ESPN)
Pregame:
Forever LSU presentation
LSU Salutes
1st Timeout of 1st Quarter:
April Burkholder (Gymnastics) ? National Champion honored
1st Quarter Break:
2006 LSU Men’s Basketball Final Four Team honored
Halftime:
LSU Golden Band from Tigerland performs
Alabama Band performs
Guest Captains:
Doug Moreau
Jonny Fayard
David Walkup
Karl Wilson
Mike Anderson
A year ago, it was the Crimson Tide who brought a 9-0 mark and a No. 3 national ranking into the LSU game. The Tigers dashed Alabama’s shot a national title by posting a 16-13 overtime win over the Crimson Tide. That victory propelled LSU to the SEC Western Division title and a berth in the league’s championship contest. It also marked LSU’s third straight win and fourth victory in five tries against Alabama.
“Our team understands the traditions of their program,” Miles said. “We also understand the traditions of the past few years. We don’t put much stock in the fact that this is a team that has lost a couple of games they shouldn’t have lost. We understand that Alabama is a good football team, and has a very tradition-rich past. There is no taking this team lightly.”
Saturday’s matchup will see a Tiger offense going up against an Alabama defensive front seven that is the best around. LSU goes into the game leading the SEC in both scoring (35.0) and total offense (421.8). Alabama is allowing just 16 points and 277 yards per game.
The Tigers will continue to rely on the play of quarterback JaMarcus Russell, who for the third time this year, was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week for his play against Tennessee. Russell is 21-4 as LSU’s starting quarterback and he currently ranks second in LSU history in career TD passes with 42. This year, Russell has completed 159 of 229 passes for 2,157 yards and 18 scores.
Russell opened a lot of eyes last week, not with his passing ability, but with his legs as he ran for a career-best 71 yards on seven carries in the win over the Vols.
“Mainly that came about when things collapsed,” Russell said of his rushes last week. “I was just trying to make plays for the team.”
When Russell’s not rushing the ball, he’s throwing to a trio of receivers considered among the best in the nation. LSU’s starting receiving unit of seniors Craig Davis and Dwayne Bowe along with junior Early Doucet have combined for 124 receptions for 1,822 yards and 16 touchdowns this year.
Doucet caught the game-winning touchdown with nine seconds left against Tennessee, while Bowe’s third quarter score made him the career leader at LSU with 22.
LSU’s running game seemed to have found new life last week with the insertion of true freshman Keiland Williams into the lineup. In his first extensive action, Williams rushed for 53 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries against the Vols. Williams, along with Russell, paced a Tiger rushing attack that accounted for 231 yards against Tennessee.
Defensively, the Tigers go into the Alabama game ranked No. 1 in the nation in total defense, allowing just 215.7 yards per game. The Tigers are No. 3 nationally in scoring defense, holding opponents to just 10 points per game.
The Tiger defense will be challenged by an Alabama offense that features one of the nation’s top running backs in Kenneth Darby. Darby has rushed for 736 yards for the Crimson Tide this year. LSU hasn’t allowed a 100-yard rushing game since Darby accounted for 104 yards a year ago against the Tigers.
The Tiger defensive attack will be led by linebacker Darry Beckwith, who paces the Tigers with 55 tackles, and defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey, who ranks among the national leaders with eight tackles for losses and three sacks.
“Our approach is to take each game one at a time starting this week with Alabama,” Miles said. “We have won 12 straight games in the month of November so we want to finish this month strong. We understand that we are not in the exact position that we want to be, but we are trying to play ourselves into contention and to do so we have to play well against Alabama.”