The Alabama Crimson Tide and Louisiana State Tigers face off in the weekend's marquee match-up
After a disappointing week six loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks, the Alabama Crimson Tide are back in contention for the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) title. With their fate in their own hands, the Crimson Tide (7-1, 4-1 SEC) travels to Baton Rouge
on Saturday 6 November, to take on the upset-minded Louisiana State Tigers (7-1, 4-1 SEC), who sit at No. 10 in the BCS.
As the defending national champions, Alabama knows that it will have to be at the top of its game if they want a shot at another title. But that means taking every opponent as seriously as the next, starting with Louisiana State and a hostile Tiger Stadium.
“The focus doesn’t need to be on the finish line,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said Monday in reference to the necessity to keep the team's attention on the present. “This team has a great opportunity in the last one-third of the season. We need everyone’s best.
We need their best attention to detail. We need their best energy and enthusiasm, the best focus on execution.”
Coming off a bye week, the Crimson Tide jumped a couple of spots in the polls without even setting foot on the field. Currently sitting at No. 6 in the BCS, Alabama is the highest ranked one-loss team, moving up after losses by the previously undefeated Michigan
State Spartans and Missouri Tigers.
As the squads come in with identical records, the pivotal match-up could have a lot of repercussions in the Southeastern Conference, as both teams vie for a spot in the league’s title game in Atlanta.
In order for the Tigers to secure a date in the SEC championship game, they’ll have to win the rest of their in-conference contests against Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas, while holding out hope that the undefeated Auburn Tigers (9-0, 6-0 SEC) falter against
Georgia or Alabama.
“All we can do is control our destiny,” said Louisiana State running back Stevan Ridley. “We are not going to fold our tent. We have a great team coming here with one loss. We are focusing on them this week. We are trying to go 11-1, which is as close to perfect
as we can get. If we just drop one game, that’s a pretty good season.”
Alabama is employing a similar approach to the rest of their season. If they are to have a shot at a conference title, much less a national championship, they’ll have to plough (unscathed) through a tough gauntlet that includes No. 10 Louisiana State, No. 20
Mississippi State, and unblemished arch-rival Auburn, currently the nation’s second-best squad.
The Crimson Tide aren’t naive about the task at hand either. “The schedule’s going to be tough,” said Alabama tailback Trent Richardson. “We've got to go to [Louisiana State’s] Death Valley, we’ve got Mississippi State and then we’ve got Auburn. Mississippi
State isn’t a step behind anybody else. Then we’ve got [Auburn quarterback] Cam Newton.”
Aware of what’s at stake, both this weekend and in the near future, Saban knows what it will take to succeed. “I think there’s a lot of other people probably in the same boat, so it’s who can take care of their business the best down the road,” the coach said.
Either way, the Tide will have to bring their best if they plan to make another run at the title.
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