ESPN’s SP+ has revealed its final score prediction for the annual early November treat that college football fans get.
It’s LSU and Alabama, and though these are 2 programs seemingly headed in opposite directions right now, it’s a bitter rivalry game and sometimes weird things happen in rivalry games like these. The Tigers are coming off a bye following a home primetime loss to Texas A&M that dropped them to 5-3 overall and just 2-3 in the SEC, and it also cost Brian Kelly his job as head coach. He was fired the following night.
That means LSU is not only looking for a new permanent head coach right now as it gets ready to face Alabama. The Tigers are also relegated to spoiler in this matchup with the 4th-ranked Crimson Tide, who are rolling right now after winning 7 in a row following a season-opening loss to Florida State. Alabama will have everything at stake on Saturday night as the teams kick it off from Bryant-Denny Stadium at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
The Crimson Tide have their College Football Playoff hopes firmly intact as the Week 11 collision arrives, while the Tigers will be trying to put a major dent in those Playoff hopes.
ESPN’s SP+ is available for all of the Week 11 matchups, and the model is projecting the favored Crimson Tide to hold serve at home and outlast the Tigers, 30-21.
Here’s the LSU-Alabama prediction along with the rest of the Week 11 slate:
This will be the 90th meeting all-time in 1 of the SEC’s proudest rivalries. Alabama leads the all-time series by a healthy margin, going 57-27-5 against LSU.
LSU won the very first meeting way back in 1895, and Alabama won last year’s matchup, going to Baton Rouge and taking down the Tigers, 42-13. The Crimson Tide have won the past 2 meetings, but on Saturday night they would be wise to be careful with an LSU team that’s playing with nothing to lose.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
