Alabama Football: ‘You don’t have to do nothing special to be special’

It’s Game Day in Alabama and as always Alabama football fans are primed for a game that matters much to the Crimson Tide. Secondary market tickets have been at a premium for months. The Bryant-Denny crowd will be frenzied and there will be more than a few LSU fans.

If the oddsmakers are correct, the contest will be a close one. It is not hard to find national, college football pundits picking LSU. My take is different. On a pleasantly cool November night in Tuscaloosa, I expect Alabama to not only win the game but with a better than 50-50 chance to win it by more than a touchdown.

I don’t discount that the physical and mental battles between the Crimson Tide and Bengal Tigers will be intense. It will be big-time, big-boy football.

A fair estimate is that at least 15 players on the two teams will be selected in the 2024 NFL Draft. Alabama could have 10 or more players drafted depending on how many opt for early entry.

The talent on the field on Saturday will be impressive, though maybe not as bounteous as in the 2019 game in Tuscaloosa. Close to 60 players on the 2019 LSU Bengal Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide teams were drafted by the NFL. Nineteen of them, including 11 Alabama players became NFL first-round draft selections. Five LSU players and four Alabama players were first-round selections in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Alabama Football vs. LSU Saturday Night

Much is being made about LSU’s explosive offense and Jayden Daniels being almost unstoppable. The Alabama defense is also recognized for being stout. Defensive football has lost its shine lately but Nick Saban and Kevin Steele have an advantage. They know exactly what LSU will try to do.

Brian Kelly has no reason to change the LSU offense for the game. He may have held onto a trick play or two during the last two seasons, but changing what has worked for the Bengal Tigers would be coaching malpractice. The Tide’s advantage is Saban and Steele will not need a half of football to figure out how to adjust. A fast start by the Tide defense will allow the Alabama football offense time to adjust to whatever LSU tries defensively.

The game will be one in which execution is more important than scheme. That too favors the Crimson Tide. LSU has some outstanding players. So does the Crimson Tide and Alabama has the overall better roster.

Talking about the bond this team has with each other, Kool-Aid McKinstry said it best in the video below, “you don’t have to do nothing special to be special.”

The game will be hard-fought and the outcome may not become known until well into the fourth quarter. My Friday prediction was 34-27 Alabama, but my latest is a 10-point Crimson Tide win, 34-24.