Tim Tebow, Roman Harper debate how Alabama must defend against LSU offense, Jayden Daniels

Everyone is excited for LSU at Alabama in Week 10, including Tim Tebow and Roman Harper of the SEC Network.

While College GameDay is in town for the big game, Tebow and Harper joined The Paul Finebaum Show on Friday to discuss what they’re expecting for the game. Specifically, Tebow focused on how the Crimson Tide defense will have to slow down the Tigers’ Heisman hopeful quarterback in Jayden Daniels.

“I think it’s pressure up the middle. It’s keep him in front of you. It’s not let him escape and buy time with his (legs),” Tebow delineated. “Now he’s always multiple, because he can throw it accurately on the run. Receivers can make plays. These receivers, when you give them a little extra time, you can’t cover them that long. Then he also has the ability to take off, and he’s one of the fastest guys.

“So you’ve got to keep the rush in front of him, keep him in the pocket, and then hopefully you can stay in two-high defense, so your safeties can make plays.”

Harper was in agreement with the former Heisman-winning quarterback, as he added that it all starts with the Alabama defense having a good plan fro Daniels.

“It’s about slowing them down,” Harper stated. “Number one, you’ve got to have a rush plan, when it comes to Jayden Daniels. You can’t allow him to escape the pocket. If he beats you from within the pocket, then hats off to him, but you can’t allow him to do what he wants to do and dictate the game that way.

“… Ole Miss beat LSU earlier this year, and it was really because … offense, offense, offense, and then timely stops, at the end of the game, and that’s what Alabama has to realize. ‘Okay, who had success versus LSU?’ It’s the teams that got just a few stops here and there, and you’re still able to score and keep them off-balance themselves. So you’ve got to have that in mind.”

Tim Tebow, Roman Harper: LSU defense against Alabama offense ‘not being talked about enough’ heading into Week 10

Continuing, Tebow elaborated on a matchup he believes ins’t getting talked about enough, the Tigers defense against the Crimson Tide offense.

“I’m so excited for both sides of the ball, but I want to talk about what’s not being talked about enough, and that’s Alabama’s offense against LSU’s defense. What are we going to see? Are we going to see Alabama be a bit more uptempo, spread it out, do what Jalen [Milroe] does a bit better? Or a little bit more ground-and-pound, keep it away from Jayden Daniels? I think this is where the checkers goes into chess.

“We’re going to see a mastermind in Nick Saban. It’s going to be fun to see what Tommy Rees does. The back-and-forth, how does Alabama handle Harold Perkins? I still think he needs to play on the edge most of the game, and rush the passer and create chaos. Because that’s what he does so well. Stop making him sit back in coverage. That’s not what he does well. You have one of the best athletes in college football. Let him go, unleash him against Jalen Milroe and let’s see what he can do.”

As for Harper, he believes a fast start will be important to LSU if they’re to defeat Alabama two seasons in a row.

“LSU is going to be able to score. I think it’s more important for LSU to get off to a faster start, especially being on the road,” Harper explained. “They want this game played at their pace. They want this game in the 40s, and that’s why they care about Alabama scoring points, because they want to score points too.”

Alas, all talk goes away on Saturday, when the Tigers and Crimson Tide take the field. Until then, everyone is juiced up for the type of game we could get between LSU and Alabama.