College Gameday Takes: Alabama is LSU's "championship game"

LSU and Alabama remains a marquee game on ABC at 6:30 p.m. CT on Saturday night. The Tigers come off of a busy bye week and now look to stun the college football world. On ESPN this morning, the College Gameday crew previewed the game as it will once again be in the spotlight.

“Brian Kelly got his payout and now Frank Wilson is in charge,” College Gameday host Reece Davis said. “They have a new offensive coordinator as well in Alex Atkins. A lot of different things for the Bayou Bengals.”

Here’s what the College Gameday crew said about the game and what they are expecting to see on Saturday night in Tuscaloosa.

Pat McAfee

“LSU’s defense is obviously extremely talented. So, if they’re going to piece things together, especially with some fresh energy at the head coaching position, maybe LSU goes out there ready to play, or maybe Ty Simpson continues doing what he’s been doing. They’ve won seven straight and he is special.”

Nick Saban

“Simpson has played outstanding this year, but the one thing Alabama really wanted to improve on during this bye week was their ability to run the ball. They’ve been very inconsistent, they haven’t been able to establish a ground game to go with the pass game. You play LSU, who’s got a really good secondary, you don’t want to be one-dimensional.”

“Frank Wilson was a very successful high school coach in Louisiana before getting into college coaching — he’s mentored some really high-profile players. So I think he’ll do a really good job getting his team ready to play.”

Kirk Herbstreit

“They talked about Michael Van Buren, the backup quarterback at LSU, getting him some opportunities It’s a completely different package. He’s much more athletic, you wonder how much Alex Atkins, who coached Jordan Travis at Florida State, wonder how much he might use that package as a change of pace, because the tackles at LSU are a true freshman on the left side, a redshirt, freshman on the right, at this stage in their careers, they are a liability. So how do they slow down that pass rush? That would be a great way to use Van Buren.”

“Frank Wilson does such a good job of reaching out, having guys like Jacob Hester come in and speak to the team about what it means to be an LSU Tiger. They’re trying to bring that pride back. This would be a great game to display that.”

Desmond Howard

“Yeah, we all know the talent LSU has, you already talked about the pieces back with Blake Baker, the DC. I think now I want to see, does getting the coach fired, moving away from the head coach, galvanize the team?

They’re going up against an Alabama team that they completely despise. Can they keep that energy that they’re going to have in the first quarter? Because I know this is like their championship game. First quarter, they’re going to come out with fire. Can they sustain enough of a fight over four quarters to give Alabama all they can handle down there in Tuscaloosa for four quarters? That’s what I want to see.”