Joel Klatt picks Alabama to win, cover vs. LSU

One of college football’s most storied rivalries returns Saturday night in Tuscaloosa, where No. 4 Alabama hosts LSU under the lights. Both teams are coming off bye weeks, but they enter this matchup headed in opposite directions.

The Crimson Tide have found their stride under Kalen DeBoer, winning seven straight games after an early-season loss to Florida State. Now sitting at 7-1 overall and 5-0 in SEC play, Alabama controls its own destiny in the conference race and has their eyes set firmly on another SEC Championship appearance.

Meanwhile, LSU is in turmoil. The Tigers (5-3, 2-3 SEC) have dropped three of their last four, all to Top 20-ranked SEC opponents, and their season took another hit when head coach Brian Kelly was fired following a 49-25 loss to Texas A&M two weeks ago. That defeat, coupled with a 17-10 loss to Vanderbilt earlier in October, effectively ended LSU’s College Football Playoff hopes for the fifth straight season.

Historically, this rivalry has tilted heavily in Alabama’s favor. The Crimson Tide hold a 57-27-5 all-time advantage and have won 12 of the last 14 meetings, including the past two. The most memorable of those wins came in the 2012 BCS National Championship Game, a 21-0 shutout that still resonates in Tuscaloosa lore.

FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt broke down the matchup this week, siding firmly with Alabama to handle business at home: “Ty Simpson has been tremendous,” Klatt said, via The Joel Klatt Show. “LSU is going to have to pressure him. That’s the only way you slow down that offense.

“They have one or fewer sacks in three of the last four games. Defense is just not the same. I don’t want anything to do with LSU right now. I can’t take the points.”

Klatt believes Alabama’s balance and defensive consistency will prove too much for the Tigers to handle: “I can’t tell myself that they’re going to be artificially motivated in this ball game,” he continued. “So I’ve got Bama winning this game 31-20. Bama covers the 9.5 (spread) and they continue their run in the SEC, which has been incredibly impressive after that first game where they lost to Florida State.

“I think Bama wins. I like Bama to still go to the SEC Championship game. I think that they beat LSU at home 31-20, Ty Simpson, with a big day on that struggling LSU defense.”