Alabama’s defense has evolved through the years, and while that has been extremely beneficial against fast-paced offenses like Ole Miss and Texas A&M, does it hurt Alabama against old-school offensive teams like LSU?

Alabama may no longer possess a Terrence Cody behemoth, but the team has plenty of heft in Dalvin Tomlinson, Da’Ron Payne and Raekwon Davis.

“That’s one of the things that we’re going to have to do a good job of, because we probably don’t have as many big guys as we have in the past,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said at his press conference on Tuesday. “Because we were built in the past for teams like LSU, who were I-formation, run downhill, a very physical offensive line. We’re going to have to do a really good job with our guys up front. I think we’ve got some guys that can hang and play that type of game, some of them played last year.”

Alabama has won five straight meetings with LSU, although a trip to Tiger Stadium is never an easy victory for anybody, including the Tide. Each of the last four games in Death Valley have been decided by a touchdown or less.

Things are quiet in Tuscaloosa this week as the team gets more repetitions with a bye week. Next Saturday, the team will suit up in Baton Rouge with the stakes getting higher and the first College Football Playoff rankings set to be released after this week’s action.

Last week, Leonard Fournette showed he has recovered from an ankle injury by rushing for 284 yards in a 38-21 win against Ole Miss. Alabama will need to hold Fournette to a much lower total. Then, there is LSU’s secondary back, Derrius Guice. Alabama had little problem containing Tennessee’s two-headed monster of Alvin Kamara and Jalen Hurd.

“I think it all starts with the interior people holding the point and linebackers doing a good job of reading plays,” Saban said. “You’ve got to do a good job of tackling, and you’ve got to really play good team defense when you play against a team like LSU, who is very, very good at running the ball. They’ve got two great backs really, so this will be a challenge for us.”

Last year, Alabama certainly had plenty of defenders in the middle of the defensive line to slow LSU down. Fournette had just 31 yards rushing in last season’s game. Alabama had Jarran Reed, A’Shawn Robinson, Darren Lake and Dalvin Tomlinson all earning time in the rotation.

“This year, we don’t have quite as much depth in that regard, but I still think we’ve got guys that can play it,” Saban said.

It’s not as if the Crimson Tide’s unit doesn’t have guys who can challenge LSU’s attack, or any team’s ground game for that matter. After all, Alabama has held opponents to just 70.1 yards per game and 2.1 yards per carry, marks that both rank as the best in the country.

The team will have to rely on defensive end Jonathan Allen and linebackers Tim Williams, Ryan Anderson and Shaun Dion Hamilton to get into the backfield and stop the LSU running game.

That hasn’t been a problem for Bama, which is third in the nation in tackles for loss with 64. Alabama has done even better in that area over the last three games, all against better rushing attacks than it had faced all season previously. The Tide posted double-digit tackles for loss vs. Arkansas (10) and Tennessee (10) before notching a season-high 11 vs. Texas A&M.

It’ll take that kind of effort to stop a Tigers offense that leads the SEC in yards per carry at 6.7, led by a player who saw his Heisman hopes dashed at almost exactly the same point a season ago.