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Tim Tebow sends message to LSU roster ahead of Alabama game: 'Your heart better not be interim'

Barkley-Truaxby: Barkley Truax3 hours agoBarkleyTruax
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(Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)

LSU will take the field on Saturday night in Tuscaloosa in its first game back since firing former head coach Brian Kelly. Many see the Tigers as the underdog in the matchup vs. Alabama, but Tim Tebow wants the LSU roster to take the field during Week 11 with a different attitude.

Amid the turnover the LSU football team and athletic its department has experienced since Kelly’s firing, Tebow wants this team to believe in themselves. He used the term ‘interim’ — a word that’s been used often in Baton Rouge in the last two weeks — as motivation instead of a crutch.

“Everybody is writing off LSU. They’re done. They’re trash. Everyone is interim there — interim coach, interim AD, Interim president,” Tebow said during an appearance on SportsCenter on Saturday morning. “But guess what? Your heart better not be interim.”

While the Tigers have lost three of their last four games to end the Brian Kelly era, there’s four games left for the Tigers to try and turn their season around. That beings with Alabama on Saturday, and then will have matchups against Arkansas and Western Kentucky before battling Oklahoma in the regular season finale.

“They only have three losses, and if you can get an upset tonight at Bama, you’re going to have one of the best wins in the country,” Tebow said. “And then at the end of the year, you also play Oklahoma. There’s so much in front of them, and this is where your alphas, your leaders, have to step up and say, ‘Okay, I get it. They got rid of our coach, but they can’t get rid of our heart.’

“Now they show up tonight, and there’s still so much in front of this team. There’s still a possibility with two massive upsets — one starting tonight — at 9-3, who knows? You maybe even still have a shot at the playoff.”

Tebow said that effort starts with the leaders on the roster, specifically pointing toward QB Garrett Nussmeier and the effort from the Tigers’ defense. He believes there’s a lot this LSU team can accomplish before the Tigers hang up their cleats this season. The College Football Playoff is a long shot at this point in the season, but with a little help from the teams around them and no margin for error — it may be possible.

Kickoff between the Tigers and Crimson Tide is set for 7:30 p.m. ET. ABC will carry the national broadcast.