Jumbo Package: Alabama vs LSU kickoff time announced

Happy Tuesday, everyone. We now know that Alabama will be playing under the lights at LSU.

The Alabama-LSU game will be back under the lights in Baton Rouge.

The Crimson Tide and Tigers will kick off at 6 p.m. on Nov. 5, the SEC announced Monday. The game will air on ESPN for a second straight year after spending more than a decade exclusively on CBS.

As anyone who has followed this series knows, home field advantage has largely been flipped when these two play, for whatever reason. This of course runs contrary to the narrative surrounding Alabama’s play on the road. It would certainly help to keep the penalties to single digits.

Eli Ricks likely earned himself some more run with his effort on Saturday, leading many to ask why he hadn’t already been playing. To hear his teammates tell it, he apparently took a while to pick up the defense.

“Obviously he came in and had to pick up a new system, but we saw that steady improvement from when he got here until now,” Bryce Young said. “For it to all translate and for him to put it together to play like he did, it’s great to see.”

While it’s difficult to prepare to start every game regardless of where the player is on the depth chart, Ricks made it look easy, and according to Henry To’oTo’o, Saturday may serve as a sign of things to come.

“He’s worked super hard and he’s been in the playbook for a while now,” To’oTo’o said. I’m super excited about his journey and his adventure. He’s a great player and I think as long as he puts his head down and grinds in our playbook and learns everything he needs to know, he’s going to be one of the best cornerbacks.”

LSU is getting plenty of attention after the win over Ole Miss.

No. 18 LSU (6-2)

Next: vs. No. 6 Alabama, Nov. 5.

Reality check: The development of QB Jayden Daniels, who is at a career high 70% completions, encapsulates the Tigers’ progress in general in Year 1 under Brian Kelly.

Ranked: Too low.

A resurgent LSU team that’s posted back-to-back wins over Florida and Ole Miss will take on Alabama and a refreshed Young on Nov. 5, and it will do so in Tiger Stadium, one of the league’s most challenging venues. On Saturday, Brian Kelly’s first-year team dominated previously unbeaten Ole Miss 45-20 with a runaway performance in the second half. It was a victory that put the Tigers squarely in the center of the SEC West race, with a chance to take command of the division with a win over Alabama. The Tigers’ offensive engine is now firing in peak form, having scored six touchdowns against the Gators and another six against the Rebels over the last two weeks.

The Tigers have had something of an offensive resurgence lately, but it should be noted that it has come against three bottom-half SEC defenses in Ole Miss, Florida, and Tennessee. An Alabama defense that leads the conference in yards per play despite the Knoxville debacle will be a major test for Jayden Daniels and company.

The short passing game has been a staple for the Bayou Bengals.

Daniels was throwing accurate darts in the short to intermediate game. He was picking apart Ole Miss’ defense and allowing his skill talent to make plays after the catch. When the play broke down, he was able to extend plays and churn chunk yardage on the ground.

His downfield attempts were less of a success. On the team’s first possession, wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. had a step on cornerback Davison Igbinosun down the left boundary but Daniels underthrew him, which caused Igbinoson to run into Thomas and a penalty flag was thrown as a result. Later in the game, wide receiver Jaray Jenkins was behind the coverage and underthrown, but made the adjustment to wrangle it for a touchdown.

In general, these seems like a pretty good matchup for the Alabama defense, and on the other side LSU ranks near the bottom of the conference, allowing 5.5 per play. Even Auburn managed to get 400 yards on them.

Last, from the “you hate to see it” department:

Sounds like a substantial portion of the salary cap in College Station is going to go to waste.

That’s about it for now. Have a great day.

Roll Tide.