BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Never one to get ahead of himself, Nick Saban isn’t allowing his team to overlook this week — even if there isn’t an opponent to worry about. Speaking at the Monday Morning Quarterback Club at The Harbert Center in downtown Birmingham, the head coach said No. 2 Alabama has yet to begin preparations for its anticipated matchup against No. 1 LSU in two weeks. Instead, the Crimson Tide will remain strictly focused on improving during its coming open week.

“I think this week is a time for maybe a little mental, physical and psychological rest for our team and an opportunity to improve,” Saban said. “We’re going to practice Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week, and whether it’s individuals, individual groups or units, improvement in all things is what we want to focus on and we want to give the players a little exposure to what any of the next four opponents do that’s different than what we’ve seen so far. So, that will be kind of the goals that we have this week.”

In fact, Saban claims he hasn’t really studied LSU since Alabama’s 48-7 victory over Arkansas on Saturday. When asked about the Bayou Bengals, he said he watched tape of Auburn’s offense against LSU’s defense but admitted, “I was really watching Auburn’s offense, if you want to know the truth about it.” LSU defeated Auburn 23-20 over the weekend.

His thoughts?

“No opinion,” Saban said. “They (LSU) have a great team, they’re a very good team and they’ve got a good defensive team. We’re really not going to start LSU until Thursday. Players get stale if you work on a certain team for too long. We have a lot of other things that we’re trying to clean up in between now and then, so that’s not really the focus.”

Despite the hype surrounding the No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup, Alabama’s players seem to be following after their head coach. After the victory over Arkansas, outside linebacker Terrell Lewis was asked about playing his first game against LSU. While the outside linebacker acknowledged his excitement, he claimed now is the time for self-preservation.

“We’ve got a bye week first,” Lewis said. “I’ve got to take care of my body, work out, get in the weight room. I’m going to watch film, but other than that basically just use this bye week to kind of relax and get away from football.”

It’s also an opportunity for the Crimson Tide to clean up some of its mistakes from the previous weeks. While Alabama has beaten all eight of its opponents by 21 points or more this season, it’s developed a nasty habit of penalties.

The Crimson Tide was flagged six times for a total of 60 yards against Arkansas. Over the past four weeks, Alabama has accumulated 35 fouls for a total of 320 yards. The Crimson Tide ranks No. 112 in the nation averaging 68.8 penalty yards per game.

“We still have a ways to go in terms of ability to execute together as a group without making a mental (error) here, a mental error there that leads to plays,” Saban said. “Because I think when you get in close games, those kinds of things can really, really hurt you. And as a team, we still get far too many penalties, too many undiscipline-type penalties that we need to clean up.

“We give people too many extra opportunities, whether it’s on third down or 4th-and-3 and line up offsides on a punt return when you know you’re just going to fair catch the ball. I mean, you’re giving people extra possessions on offense, and when they have good players and good teams, those things could really hurt you.”

Alabama (8-0, 5-0 in the SEC) opened up as a 9.5-point favorite over LSU (8-0, 4-0), according to PointsBet in New Jersey. The two teams will meet on Nov. 9 at 2:30 p.m. CT inside of Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The game will be televised by CBS.

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