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This might be the most difficult opponent preview ever.
By now, you have probably heard the news about the LSU secondary:
No Cordale Flott, Sage Ryan, Derek Stingley, Elias Ricks or Major Burns for LSU in the secondary this weekend.
— Glen West (@glenwest21) November 3, 2021
Next man up but that's just brutal#LSU
For those keeping score, that is both starting corners, the starting nickel who was moved outside, and both starting safeties from week one. Honestly, there is no excuse for Alabama not thoroughly lighting this group up. The TIgers have allowed a shade under 38 points a game in their last three, and have suffered additional attrition this week. I could list the names of the other DBs on the roster if you so desire, but I haven’t one clue which of them will be playing on Saturday.
Yes, it’s that big a mess over there.
Besides saying last week that they didn’t even have enough healthy players to hold practice, Head Coach Ed Orgeron laid into his coordinators at Monday’s press conference.
Orgeron says the defense has been too predictable and this part of the season you can't put new stuff in.
— Glen West (@glenwest21) November 1, 2021
Said there's been plenty of adjustment periods over the last week.#LSU
What a disaster.
In any case, there are a few players that Alabama will have to prepare for. First up is defensive end BJ Ojulari. The sophomore is tied with several others for third in the SEC with six sacks, and has 35 total tackles with one pass defensed. He and senior Glen Logan are the two names to know up front, as the Tigers are also missing some key players here.
At linebacker, Damone Clark runs things. The senior has been a pleasant surprise for LSU this season, easily leading the team with a whopping 98 tackles in eight games, adding a sack and an interception. Next to him is Micah Baskerville, who can be a real hound himself with 52 takedowns.
We usually try to be fairly even handed in these previews, but there just isn’t a whole lot to say about a matchup that is this lopsided. If Alabama’s offense doesn’t hamstring itself with presnap penalties, overthrows, dropped passes and/or poor communication on the offensive line, there really is no reason for the team that LSU will run out there on Saturday to ever get a stop.
If Alabama is as focused as they should be coming out of the bye week, 50 points should be the baseline.
Roll Tide.