College football Saturday night and we will see the Alabama Crimson Tide take on the LSU Tigers at Tigers Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The game has a start time of 8:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on CBS. Current Vegas odds have the Crimson Tide listed as 6.5 point favorites, while the total is set at 46.
Analysis: The Alabama Crimson Tide are again in the thick of the race for the National Title, as they come in with a 7-1 mark on the year, which includes a 4-1 mark in the SEC. The Tide is 2-1 on the road this year, with that lone loss coming at Mississippi. The Tide are 11-4 ATS in their last 15 trips to Baton Rouge, but are just 2-9-1 ATS in their last 12 games overall and 0-5 ATS in their last 5 road games overall. Alabama is a very solid offensive squad that comes in ranked 14th in total offense, 28th in passing, 30th in rushing and 19th in points scored (36.5 ppg). The defense is one of the best in the nation as they come in ranked 4th in yards allowed, 29th vs the pass, 2nd vs the run and 2nd in points allowed (14 ppg).
The LSU Tigers are having another nice year, as they come in at 7-2 overall, and 3-2 in the SEC. LSU is 6-1 at home, with that lone loss coming against top ranked Mississippi State. The Tigers are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games following a bye week and 6-1 ATS in their last 7 home games, but they are also 4-12 ATS in their last 16 games after allowing less than 20 points in their previous game and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games in November. The Tigers have been a very average offensive team as they come in ranked 65th in total yards, 101st in passing, 26th in rushing and 45th in scoring (32.8 ppg). Defensively they are very solid as always, ranking 15th in total yards allowed, 4th vs the Pass, 64th vs the run and 4th in points allowed (15.9 ppg).
Pick: Boy this is my type of game as I am expecting a low scoring game here. Last year these teams put up 55 points, but in the previous 6 meetings no more than 45 points have been scored in regulation, with those 6 games averaging just 33.5 ppg. That is the type of game I expect here. The LSU offense is not as explosive and really the only way for them to win this game is to shorten it with their strong ground attack and then rely on their very good defense to take care of the rest. For Alabama they have another stout defensive squad and will not give up a whole lot of points to a very suspect LSU offense. The Tide has allowed 14 ppg this year, while the Tigers have allowed just 15.9 ppg on the year, including just 10.7 ppg at home. This should be an old fashioned defensive battle, with the game being played in the 30s at most.
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