re: The Curious Case of Alabama, LSU, and Arkansas

Styles also make match-ups.

In previous years, teams that wanted to beat LSU had to be able to score a pretty good number of points. It wasn't enough to not beat yourself, like Bama generally would do vs. LSU. LSU was built to win ugly, low scoring contests, particularly with outstanding kick returners.

It also seems to be a general LSU trend to start a year a little sloppy, tighten up the penalties and discipline in the middle of the schedule, then get back to sloppy at the end of the year. While it might not be a cause, it certainly hasn't helped.

We'll see if the changes to each school's styles and the timing of their head to head matchups will have any effect on the pattern of outcomes.