BAMA vs Lsu football stuff

THE GAME: The top-ranked University of Alabama football team hosts its final Southeastern Conference home game of the season inside Bryant-Denny Stadium Saturday as the No. 10/12 Louisiana State University Tigers visit the Capstone. The game between the Crimson Tide and Tigers pits two ranked team for the seventh straight year and will kickoff at 7 p.m. CT on CBS. Verne Lundquist will serve as the play-by-play announcer, with Gary Danielson at his side as the color analyst. The two will be joined by sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson.

SERIES HISTORY: Alabama leads the series with Lsu, 47-25-5, and has won two straight and four of six in the series after a thrilling 21-17 come-from-behind victory in Baton Rouge last season. The Tide and Tigers have won nine games apiece in Tuscaloosa while Alabama boasts a 20-16-2 record in the state of Alabama. The Crimson Tide actually own a 26-9-2 record in Baton Rouge and a 27-9-3 record in the state of Louisiana. The biggest win in the series for Alabama was a 21-0 victory in the 2012 Allstate BCS Championship Game (2011 season) in New Orleans after Lsu had pulled out a 9-6 overtime win during the regular season.

BAMA Stuff

HARD TO CONVERT: No team in the SEC has allowed fewer first downs (114) than Alabama, which ranks tied for second in the nation. Over the last six games the Crimson Tide defense has allowed an average of just 12.7 first downs per game and that does not included the season low of seven first downs allowed vs. Virginia Tech in the season opener. Outside of the Texas A&M game, where the Tide allowed 31 first downs, UA has surrendered just 83 in the remaining seven games, an average of 11.9 per game

QUARTERBACK WINS: AJ McCarron has 33 career wins and a .943 winning percentage at Alabama. He is currently the all-time leader in winning percentage at The University of Alabama and the Southeastern Conference

OFFENSE ROLLING: Alabama’s offense has been difficult to get off the field in 2013. The Crimson Tide have gone 3-and-out on offense only 16 times in 90 possessions, a rate of just 17.8 percent that ranks seventh nationally Baylor leads the nation at only 8.6 percent of drives resulting in a 3-and-out. The Tide’s first team has only be responsible for 14 3-and-outs this season.

QB PROTECTION: Alabama has not allowed a sack since the third quarter of the Ole Miss game on Sept. 28. That is four straight games without a sack and part of a fifth game, a string of 17 quarters. After allowing four sacks in the opener against Virginia Tech, Alabama has surrendered just three sacks in the last seven games.

HARD TO FIND END ZONE AGASINT ALABAMA: Since the start of the 2009 season, no defense has allowed fewer touchdowns than the Crimson Tide. Alabama’s defense, led by coordinator Kirby Smart and head coach Nick Saban, has surrendered just 78 touchdowns over the last 62 games. That is 37 fewer than the second most in the nation (Lsu with 115)

DEFENSE IN SHUTDOWN MODE: Since Alabama’s 49-42 victory at Texas A&M in the second game of the season, the Crimson Tide’s defense has been living up to a standard established by great Tide defenses of the past. In the past six games, or 24 quarters of action, the Alabama defense has surrendered just two touchdowns (1 at Kentucky & 1 vs. Tennessee). In those six games, the Tide is allowing 4.3 points per game (26 points - 2 TD, 4 FG), 4.18 yards per play (1,407 yards in 337 plays), 159.2 passing yards per game (955 yards) and 83.0 rushing yards per game (498 yards). During that six game stretch, the Tide has outscored its opponents 246-26 or 41.0-4.3 points per game while posting a 167-0 edge in the second half (average of 27.8 ppg in the first half)

BEATING THE BEST: Alabama is 25-7 against the Associated Press top 25, including a 15-4 mark against AP top-10 teams over the past six seasons. The Crimson Tide is 2-0 thus far this year, beating No. 6 Texas A&M, 49-42, in College Station and then blanking No. 21 Ole Miss, 25-0, in Tuscaloosa

SUCCESS ON THE ROAD: As successful as Alabama has been at Bryant-Denny Stadium in the Saban era, the Crimson Tide has been nearly as effective away from home. Alabama has a 17-game winning streak away from Bryant-Denny Stadium, which is the longest active streak in the FBS

UNDERCLASSMEN CONTRIBUTIONS: Alabama has needed contributions from 34 first- or second-year players early in the 2013 season. The Crimson Tide has played 14 true freshmen with TE O.J. Howard, CB Eddie Jackson, DL A’Shawn Robinson and LS Cole Mazza earning starts

Alabama has held 7-of-8 opponents to 10 points or less in 2013 after limiting seven of its opponents to 10 points or less in 2012, four of which were shutouts.

The seven players from Louisiana include: WR Kenny Bell (Rayville), DB Landon Collins (Geismar), LB Denzel Devall (Bastrop), WR Raheem Falkins (New Orleans), punter Cody Mandell (Lafayette), DB Bradley Sylve (Port Sulphur) and Tim Williams (Baton Rouge).

ALABAMA-Lsu AT VARIOUS SITES: The Alabama-LSU series has been played at six different sites since the initial meeting in 1895. The city of Baton Rouge has hosted the most games in the series (37), with Alabama posting a 26-9-2 record on the LSU campus. New Orleans is the only other Louisiana city to host the series, with Alabama and LSU playing to a 7-7 tie in New Orleans in 1921 and the Crimson Tide claiming the 2011 national championship inside the Superdome, 21-0, over the Tigers. Four Alabama cities have played host to this rivalry, including Tuscaloosa, Mobile, Montgomery and Birmingham.

ALABAMA-Lsu SERIES IS A LONG ONE: The Lsu series is the fifth- longest series in school history. The two teams began playing in 1895, the 15th game in Crimson Tide history, and the 2019 game marks the 78th meeting between the two teams. Only Mississippi State (97), Tennessee (96) and Vanderbilt (83) have played Alabama more than LSU. Auburn and LSU have both played the Tide 77 times.

RETURNING SUCCESS: Alabama returns 13 starters and 48 lettermen from its 2012 squad that won the BCS National Championship

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