Lane Kiffin and LSU enter a critical stretch as the Tigers face No. 5 Alabama with College Football Playoff implications hanging in the balance.
LSU debuted at No. 14 in the first CFP rankings, trailing six SEC teams. The Tigers are one of four top-15 teams without a ranked win this season, alongside Notre Dame, UCLA, and Wake Forest. Losses at Ole Miss and Kentucky have damaged their resume, while earlier victories over then-ranked Texas A&M and Mississippi State have lost luster as the Aggies have struggled offensively and the Bulldogs have dropped four straight since quarterback Kamario Taylor's season-ending toe injury.
Advanced metrics still favor LSU: the Tigers rank fourth nationally in game control, 23rd in strength of schedule, and 16th in strength of record. Their remaining slate is the third-toughest in the country, with No. 7 Texas, No. 13 Tennessee, and Arkansas awaiting after Alabama.
Kiffin is 0-5 all-time against Alabama as a head coach and 13-26 overall against ranked opponents. "I think November meaningful games, I don't mean this arrogantly, that's what we've been used to for a lot of years now, really every year," Kiffin said Monday. "I'm glad that's where we are right now, we should be even better position, but you guys know the (one) game that haunts that of the position we're in, so it is what it is and less margin for error than we would have. We've got to make sure that we perform really well against a really good team that's coached really well."
Alabama's two ranked wins came against Kentucky and South Carolina, teams that were unranked at the time but have since surged. Kiffin emphasized physicality and execution during the open week. "You see them and they look like old Alabama teams," Kiffin said. "I do think this is the most talented, when you take the 22, this is the most talented team we've played so far."
