It does not have the normal feel of a gigantic game in college football. After all, Alabama is listed as a 28-point favorite.

Now, there’s news out of LSU that the Tigers are dealing with a host of COVID issues and related contact tracing that has put this game in jeopardy. But make no mistake, if it is played, Alabama will be out for revenge following last year’s game in Bryant-Denny Stadium that LSU won en route to the national championship.

“Normally, this is one of those games that everybody circles and it’s like ‘The Game.’ Not just in the SEC, but the whole country can’t wait for Alabama and LSU,” ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said on the CFB Podcast with Herbie, Pollack & Negandhi. “That’s not going to be the case this year. I think Alabama will blow LSU out in every phase, every way imaginable.”

Alabama has won eight of the last nine meetings, and last time at Tiger Stadium, the Crimson Tide won 29-0. LSU hasn’t beaten Alabama in Baton Rouge since 2010, 24-21.

“This team, think about, they lost (Tua) Tagovailoa, they lost a lot of other great players, here they are with a new quarterback, they’ve got an injury to (Jaylen) Waddle, we hope Waddle’s going to be OK and he feels better, but the season’s got to go on and the year’s got to go on,” Herbstreit said. “They just continue to put points up and continue to show they can attack in different ways.”

Alabama is No. 1 in AP Top 25 poll for the first time this year, which extends its record of consecutive seasons with at least one week on top of the rankings to 13.