To beat Alabama Football LSU needs more than 2 weeks to fix a certain problem

Bye weeks can work wonders for college football teams. After a collapse against Texas A&M, LSU needs one badly. Alabama Football will be able to make good use of one as well.

A problem for the Bengal Tigers is that 14 days is not enough time for a team to become something it is not. LSU is not a good rushing team. That is clear based on their 2024 performance against SEC and ranked opponents. In four SEC games, the Bengal Tigers rank No. 12 in the SEC with a yards-per-carry (YPC) average of 3.43 yards. For the same stat, against ranked teams, LSU's average is a meager 2.3 yards; No. 14 among SEC teams.

In its five SEC games, the Alabama Football defense has averaged allowing 3.78 YPC; No. 9 among SEC teams. In three games against ranked opponents, the Alabama Football defense has allowed an average of 4.27 yards.

A first look at the stats suggests the LSU rushing attack versus the Alabama rushing defense is 'weakness' vs. 'weakness'. Let's take a closer look.

How good is the Alabama Football Defense?

In five of Alabama's last six games, the Crimson Tide has allowed rushing yards of 3.49 YPC. The excluded team from one of the six games is Tennessee. The Vols are not excluded because they had so much success against Alabama. They did, to the tune of 238 rushing yards. Sixty-one of those rushing yards came from Tennessee QB, Nico Iamaleava. Iamaleava is a capable runner who prefers to pass. He has only 53 carries this season. But compared to LSU's Garrett Nussmeier, Iamaleava is Michael Vick.

This season Nussmeier has rushed 13 times for a total of 13 yards. As a result, the Bengal Tigers have a predictable and mostly ineffective rushing attack. The LSU rushing attack has produced just 3.2 YPC in their last three games. Against Texas A&M, LSU running backs ran 18 times for 38 yards.

The Alabama football defense may be unable to match the Aggies' performance of holding LSU's backs to 2.11 YPC. The flip side is without Nussmeier as a running threat, Alabama's front seven assignments can be simplified and effective. In two weeks of preparation, LSU cannot morph into a powerful running team. That will give the Crimson Tide an advantage in Baton Rouge.

Note: Additional stats provided by cfbstats.com