Ed Orgeron, LSU remaining confident heading into Alabama matchup

Alabama is a heavy favorite heading into Saturday’s matchup against LSU. But LSU head coach Ed Orgeron remains confident heading into Saturday night’s game.

Alabama enters the game with a 7-1 overall record and a 4-1 mark in the SEC, compared to 4-4 and 2-3 for LSU. Despite the odds seemingly stacked against the Tigers, Orgeron knows that his team is capable of pulling off a major upset.

“We look at some teams that they played, we look at some games that they played and some teams that we played,” Orgeron said to reporters on Thursday. “Look at the Florida game. Florida, we can move the ball and we moved the ball on Florida. I just want to be positive. I want to give them a shot that you know what, we can go in there and I want these guys to believe that we can play with them.

“Are they a good team? Yeah. Are they one of the best teams in the country? Yeah. But what we know, we know at LSU that you got to go through Alabama to do anything. We get that and they’ve done a great job. (Nick Saban)’s got a great program but we’re up for the challenge.”

Alabama and LSU are likely to put up plenty of points

Entering Saturday’s game, Alabama is averaging 45.9 points per game compared to 30.5 for LSU. The Crimson Tide allow 20.6 points per game compared to 28.8 for the Tigers. The over/under for Saturday’s game is set at 66.5 points, and an offensive shootout is possible.

LSU pulled off an upset over Florida a couple of weeks ago, winning 49-42. But the Tigers are just 1-3 in their last four games, all of which have been against ranked SEC opponents. Last week, LSU lost 31-17 to Ole Miss. Alabama lost to Texas A&M a few weeks ago, but has since bounced back with two convincing victories over Mississippi State and Tennessee.

Alabama was somewhat surprisingly ranked No. 2 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday night. If Alabama truly wants to make the playoff, it needs to win out in the regular season to set up an intriguing SEC Championship matchup against Georgia.

LSU is gaining 382 total yards per game this season, while Alabama is gaining 494 per game. The Tigers also allow over 400 yards per game, which could lead to a favorable matchup for Alabama quarterback Bryce Young, who is established as one of the favorites to win this year’s Heisman Trophy.