Sportsbooks set favorite in LSU vs. Alabama a week from kickoff
LSU has had a chance to compose itself since Saturday’s disappointing loss to Texas A&M in College Station, embracing the bye week before entering a four-game stretch that will determine its season. That stretch begins with Alabama at home on Nov. 9 in a de-facto playoff elimination game.
Heading into the season, LSU was slightly favored in this game by 1.5 points. Once the year started, the books took down the line, but now as we’re just over a week before kickoff in Tiger Stadium, the books have released a new spread that has moved quickly.
LSU was favored initially, then it moved to a pick’em for a bit, but now, it is Alabama who is favored. Some books have the Tide favored by -1.5, some even by -2.5 early on.
This wouldn’t be the first time LSU was an underdog at home this season, with the other coming in that thrilling win over Ole Miss where the Tigers entered as 3.5-point underdogs. Now, it seems LSU will have to once again pull off the “upset” in Death Valley to stay afloat.
It’s a matchup between two teams with two losses desperate to stay alive in the playoff and SEC title hunt moving forward. Both the Tide and the Tigers have shown flashes of what they could be as Alabama beat Georgia earlier this year and LSU beat Ole Miss, but the inconsistencies have been evident for both.
It will be another massive night game for the home fans and Brian Kelly is 13-0 in night games in Tiger Stadium since being hired. It’s always a heavyweight bout when these two teams meet and this time, the stakes are incredibly real and going to send one team into the back of the line for the playoffs.
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LSU uses bye week to evaluate growth
Brian Kelly’s team is in need of some tune-ups after falling apart in the loss to the Aggies last week, but also needs to be fresh and healthy for this crucial contest. Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier has been locked in, while the offensive line looks to make progress even with a couple of key injuries.
On defense, Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe is waiting, one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the country, presenting ample problems for a defense as the Tigers saw last year in the road loss. After a lighter stretch of practices, it’s back to work this weekend as they look to get a jump on the preparation for the Tide.
“We talked about finishing games, then we went to work on some of the things we believe we need to get better at on both sides of the ball,” Kelly said. “It’s a little bit of good, a little bit of things you need to work on, and then let’s get some of the young guys some work. We had a scrimmage with the young guys, so that was the focus today.”
