Joel Klatt is a major advocate for the job that Nick Saban has done with this season’s Alabama roster. No. 8 Alabama is coming off a key 42-28 victory vs. visiting No. 14 LSU.

The victory puts Alabama in firm control of the SEC West as they strive to reach the conference title game and the College Football Playoff.

During a recent edition of The Joel Klatt Show, the FOX Sports analyst believes that Saban is a viable contender for Coach of the Year. Klatt adds that this 8-1 record must be particularly rewarding for Saban with all the question marks to start the season.

“I think that if you’re going to vote on Coach of the Year, there are several candidates and rightly so but 1 of them would be Nick Saban,” Klatt said. “With the team that he has this year vs. the team he has in other years, what he’s been able to do and the way that he’s been able to morph and develop this group at Alabama has been as impressive as any job that he’s done there. It’s been fun to watch. I bet you if you ask him he would tell you that it’s been a really fun year to coach.”

Klatt thinks this was a classic Alabama performance against rival LSU. Alabama’s defense held LSU’s top-ranked offense in check while Jalen Milroe rushed for 155 yards and 4 touchdowns.

“They did to LSU what you would expect the really great Alabama teams to do to LSU,” Klatt said. “They owned them physically late.”

Next up for Alabama is a road contest at Kentucky on Saturday (12 p.m. EST/ESPN).