CFT: LSU vs. Bama.

are undefeated Penn State vs. undefeated Minnesota, and Iowa-Wisconsin (mid-teens ranked but some players of interest on both).

I think it's a very even game, but LSU is more battle tested. They beat a very solid Auburn team who probably has a better D than Bama.

So take the points...and don't be surprised if LSU wins

Going to depend on how healthy Tua is. This Bama team is a bit shakier. A team like LSU will definitely expose some of the problems on the defensive side of the ball.

Going to have to really play well on offense to win this one, methinks.

Definitely won't be surprised if LSU wins. Burrow is the real deal.

Still, I will post this anyway...

Tua isn’t 100%. Bama’s Kryptonite is a good passing team, and Burrow completes 70% of his passes.

On the other hand, it’s in Tuscaloosa and Saban is still Saban. Very close game, which I think LSU wins in a squeaker, 31-28.

the final four playoff, even if they lose.

They will certainly campaign for it.

Knowing that result will be decided in a conference room rather than on a playing field takes away a good bit of the drama for me.

But the wide receiver/secondary matchups on both sides. Some extremely talented players in both groups for both teams. The freshman corner Stingley may end up being the best defensive back to come through LSU, a Bednarik semifinalist as a true freshman, leading sec in ints, passes defensed and holding quarterbacks to 40 percent completion when targeted.

Quote:

Stingley, just a freshman, currently is the nation’s second-highest-graded cornerback overall and he possesses the nation’s top coverage grade in the process. He has been targeted 49 times as the primary coverage defender and has allowed just 20 receptions while making four interceptions and has 10 more pass breakups to boot. Despite seeing the likes of Collin Johnson, Elijah Moore and Seth Williams, to name a few, he’s holding quarterbacks to just a 41.6 passer rating in his coverage. He is every bit a lockdown corner.

40 QB rating, not completion pct.
PFF Rankings: The top 25 players in the LSU-Alabama matchup - ( New Window )

and Georgia to keep winning so the two come into Atlanta for SEC Championship...

At least the Tide give me games to get excited about after Halloween.

Very, very excited for this one.

and then you don't

In comment 14670082 gtt350 said:

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and then you don't

And then you do. Game.

hand at the end of the game???

resilient team

In comment 14670524 gtt350 said:

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resilient team

They have the best talent in America. The way they’ve played this year is anything but resilient actually.

But Saban has had this happen a bunch of times since the playoffs - they lose a huge regular season game, don’t go to the sec title game, and get in anyway because of their program. And to be fair they show well that playoff because they are good.

But just once it be great to see a team that doesn’t make its conference title game not get invited to the final 4... people knock ND because it doesn’t play a title game but it was 12-0 both those years

Disgusting performance. Bama wasn't prepared at all. I had a feeling LSU had the better team at this point; and it showed, but Bama really didn't do themselves any favors.

Tua losing the ball untouched on the first drive. Too many men on the field when Diggs picked off Burrow. The inexplicable inability to handle a perfect snap on the first punt attempt. Bulovas missing an XP - but what else is new... even Jerry Jeudy dropped two balls he hasn't missed all year. He redeemed himself on the 2nd one, but the first one was probably a TD. Went right through his hands.

No excuses with Tua being on one leg... they just didn't come out ready to go and by the time they got going, it was too late.

That they fought back and got within a score probably keeps slim playoff hopes alive; but we're going to need a bit of help now and beating Auburn isn't a given, either.

Just really frustrating defensive performance. Seeing Bama have so much trouble getting stops on 3rd downs was maddening and it's just not the same Alabama defense that's usually there.

McKinney was the best player on the field for the defense by far. The linebackers just aren't up to snuff... losing Dylan Moses fucking sucked.

It felt like this team was vulnerable all year - so, I kind of expected what happened to happen. I wasn't surprised. What can you do... we've owned LSU for years; maybe it'll be a 2011 redux :)

Also would be remiss not to mention Najee Harris. He almost won the game by himself. Sucks that performance got wasted. He left it all out there.

Can't win em all. Just really an uncharacteristically sloppy and uneven performance from a Saban team - especially having 2 weeks to prepare.

decisions on both sides.

LSU will slightly less mistakes and just enough offense to stay ahead...

It's become kind of en vogue to be off the Tua bandwagon now after a lot of people spent last year drooling over him; but I thought he really battled yesterday and I have a lot of respect for him. The guy literally just had surgery 3 weeks ago. He played in that game with almost zero practice time and had that thing under about 50 layers of medical tape.

Still threw for over 400 yards, threw some beautiful deep balls and toughed it out against a really good opponent when he was nowhere near 100%. He made his mistakes too... the fumble on the first drive was killer. Went right down the field there and could have punched LSU in the mouth immediately with a score... and then, that. Bad INT too.

Danielson and Nessler pointed it out enough to make it obvious, but the coverage between the hashes was just awful. Bad tackling, too. Almost every time their RB got hit, he'd get 5 more yards past initial contact. Burrow also snuck out of a few tackles. Frustrating, but what can you do.

Felt like I was watching NYG defense, sadly.

was as gutty a performance as seen in a while.