After topping Florida with the usual dusting of Les Miles magic and the usual dose of Leonard Fournette, LSU is now the SEC's last unbeaten team.
LSU contends for national titles every 4 years, and is right on schedule in 2015
The Tigers are rounding into form, but Alabama awaits.
Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
The last two times that was true, LSU went on to play for the national championship.
Of course, LSU was actually better off when that distinction didn’t last. LSU lost one week after earning it in 2007, falling to Kentucky after a South Carolina win in Columbia had previously dropped the Wildcats from the ranks of the unbeaten. In 2011, the Tigers carried it all the way to the BCS National Championship Game, where they traded it for a different, less useful zero against vengeful Alabama.
But there are things common to both of those previous years and 2015. LSU cleared the hurdle of Florida in all three cases, though the Gators were wildly different teams over those three years. The Tigers had been tested by ranked teams in September in all three seasons (Virginia Tech and South Carolina in 2007; Oregon, Mississippi State and West Virginia in 2011; and Mississippi State and Auburn this year), and unequivocally passed. And LSU’s signature in each of those years had been established. In 2007, LSU was clearly the team best-equipped to handle the craziness of an insane year; in 2011, LSU had unparalleled balance on offense, defense, and special teams.
Now, LSU’s identity stems from consistently churning out 200ish rushing yards with Fournette, getting just enough from its passing game, gumming up its opponents on the ground, and relying on its pass rushers and defensive backs to stave off opposing teams when things get dicey. Florida’s 7-0 lead on Saturday was the first one any team has had over LSU this year, and it evaporated in just over 10 minutes; the Tigers’ 28-point second quarter forced the Gators to play catch-up for the rest of the night.
That’s a successful formula for LSU. It will probably work against Western Kentucky next week, though the Hilltoppers have a passing offense that could keep them in the game. It also seems likely, especially after Ole Miss and Texas A&M flailed on Saturday, that it could work for the Tigers in most of their remaining SEC games.
One problem: LSU visits Alabama on Nov. 7. And as sound as that formula is, Alabama practically reinvented it under Nick Saban.
Derrick Henry isn't on Fournette's otherworldly level, but he's not that far off. Alabama's run defense is even better than LSU's, too, and the Crimson Tide suddenly have a secondary better than the one the Tigers boast, having preyed on Kyle Allen while LSU failed to truly stop Florida's Treon Harris, who was playing his first meaningful snaps in a month. If LSU's built to hold leads on most teams, Alabama's constructed to do it against most teams — and also LSU.
Then again, though: LSU’s last two wins over Alabama in Tuscaloosa came in ... 2007 and 2011. And while the Tigers weren’t the SEC’s last unbeaten in 2003, their four-year cycle of true national title contention does extend that far back.
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