Nick Saban offers effusive praise for LSU, evaluates why team has taken next step

LSU appears to be on an upward trajectory as Year One of the Brian Kelly era enters the home stretch. The Tigers have some marquee victories and jumped into the top 10 of the first College Football Playoff rankings — and they’re catching Nick Saban’s attention.

Saban and Alabama are gearing up for a trip to Baton Rouge to take on the Tigers for their rivalry game, and Saban acknowledged the strides LSU has taken this year. The Tigers have only lost one SEC game — against now-No. 1 Tennessee — and picked up a huge upset win over Ole Miss last week.

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Now, LSU has another test with No. 6 Alabama coming to town. Saban knows the challenge at hand as he had some high praise for the Tigers.

“They got good players. Really good players,” Saban said Wednesday. “Quarterback’s playing really, really well. They’ve got great balance, they’ve got three really good running backs that all share the load. They’ve really got talented skill guys out side. They’re very efficient and effective in the way they’re executing the offense and the things that they do, and they present challenge. I think they’ve got some young players playing on offense that have gotten better and better and better. Two freshmen tackles, tight end, Jason Taylor’s son. Those guys are playing better and better all the time, too, and making plays and end up being very productive.

“This is a really, really good team all the way around. Now, they’re starting a new system offensively, lots of new players. They’re starting to get confidence and believe [in] exactly what they’re supposed to do and how they’re supposed to do it. They’re playing really effectively.”

Nick Saban assesses Alabama’s week of practice out of bye week

Since cruising past Mississippi State in Tuscaloosa, Alabama has had plenty of time to recover ahead of this week’s rivalry game vs. LSU. Now that the Crimson Tide players have a few practices under their belts, Nick Saban provided his assessment of how his team came out of the week off.

Saban sounded impressed with how his team is handling itself out of the bye. Now, his attention will turn to the play on the field Saturday when the Crimson Tide head to Baton Rouge for a primetime showdown against LSU.

“It’s been very good,” Saban said of the week of practice. “The response of the players has been really good. We’ve practiced well all three days this week. We’ll see how we play, but we seem to be preparing the right way.”