BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — LSU head coach Ed Orgeron was already looking toward Alabama following his team’s 40-24 victory over Ole Miss on Saturday. Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide plan on taking a different approach.
Both No. 1 Alabama (8-0, 5-0 in the SEC) and No. 23. LSU (6-2, 3-1) will have byes this week before they square off on Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. CT inside of Bryant-Denny Stadium. However, unlike his LSU counterpart, Saban said he will use the time off to gear his team up for the second half of the season before focusing on the Tigers.
“Look guys, we spend time on the rest of the season this week, aight,” said Saban at The Harbert Center in Birmingham on Monday. “I know the LSU game is a big game, it always is, and we certainly have a tremendous amount of respect for the way they’re playing now. They’re doing a great job, and they played very well the last few games, but we’re not going to start our focus on them today or tomorrow.”
While Saban might be holding off on preparations for LSU, he couldn’t help but look into the future following Saturday’s 45-7 victory over Tennessee. When asked to assess his team’s performance over eight games, the head coach dodged the question while alluding to tougher tests in the near future.
"I think the toughest games that we have and the best teams we have to play are ahead of us," Saban said Saturday. "We are certainly going to have to play better and with more consistency and continue to improve in several areas.”
Alabama leads the SEC in scoring offense (43 points per game), total offense (499.75 yards per game), rushing offense (298.75 ypg), scoring defense (9.8 points allowed per game) and turnover margin (+10). The Crimson Tide lead the nation in total defense (236 yards allowed per game) and rushing defense (66.38 yards allowed per game).
“There were lots of positive things to build on going into the bye week,” Saban said Saturday. “Obviously it helps to get some of our guys that play a lot a little extra time to recover. We certainly have a lot of things that we can improve on.
“We’ll look at all the opponents that we have, especially our SEC opponents, and see if there’s things we need to try to work on for them during this bye week, and we will get more of our younger players to hopefully improve to where they have a better chance to succeed when football starts up again.”
The bye week appears to come at a good time for Alabama as it looks to get a couple of key stars healthy. Monday, Saban gave updates on running back Josh Jacobs and starting defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand, both of whom could be ready for LSU.
Hand suffered an MCL strain against Ole Miss and has missed the Crimson Tide’s past three games. Before his injury, the senior defensive end recorded 11 tackles, 1.5 for a loss, with a sack and a fumble recovery.
“Da’Shawn will be working out all week,” Saban said. “We do expect him to be able to practice. We’ll see how it goes to see if he’s ready to play in the next game.”
Jacobs made his way to the locker room during the fourth quarter of last week’s game against Tennessee. The sophomore running back ran for 47 yards on eight carries while catching two passes for 24 yards against the Volunteers. Playing in six games this season, Jacobs has 171 yards on 24 carries as well as 96 yards and touchdown on six receptions.
“He’s just got an ankle (injury),” Saban said. “He’ll probably be in a boot for a few days, but he should be OK.”
After taking a day off Monday, Alabama will return to the practice field Tuesday at 3:40 p.m. The Crimson Tide will also hold practices on Wednesday and Thursday this week.
After that, it will be time to think about LSU, but not a minute sooner.
