By Hunt Palmer
Saturday’s matchup between LSU and Alabama hasn’t been labeled with a nickname.
It’s been 13 years since the Tigers and Tide played “The Game of the Century” in Tuscaloosa. Twelve since McCarron to Yeldon. Nine since Derrick Henry ripped the Heisman from Leonard Fournette in a Top 4 matchup in Tuscaloosa. Two since LSU went for two.
In 14 of the last 17 seasons, the LSU-Alabama winner has won the SEC West. That won’t happen this year.
Five Heisman winners, Mark Ingram, Henry, Joe Burrow, Devonta Smith and Jayden Daniels, have etched their name on the sport’s most sacred trophy in this matchup over the last 15 years. That won’t happen this year.
No Nick Saban. Well, some Nick Saban. He’ll be on the Gameday set from 8-11am. But he won’t coach this year.
And for the first time since 2004, both teams will take the field with two losses.
Saturday is lighter than usual on star power, Southeastern Conference stakes and all the tradition that has gone into a rivalry that, as much as any other over two decades, has embodied the top of the sport.
It’s still massive.
The loser on Saturday will suffer loss No. 3. With only seven at large spots in the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, a third loss figures to be death knell to realistic postseason aspirations.
A win will be a resume boost for a team in need of three more wins to feel confident entering selection Sunday.
Many argued the expansion of the playoff would mar the best regular season in America sports.
The opposite has happened.
On Saturday, as many as 10 teams could be playing with their playoff hopes on life support. LSU and Alabama certainly are. Same for Ole Miss. In an era of opt outs, October redshirt decisions and midseason transfers, keeping two-loss teams engaged is a positive for college football.
It’s a positive for LSU-Alabama.
Just a year ago, this game probably would have been for a slot in the Cotton Bowl. Maybe the Chick-fil-a Bowl. That used to sound great, but now we know those games are likely to be played without quarterbacks and left tackles. Coordinators often take head coaching jobs and leave in December. Skeleton crews take the field in postseason games that don’t feature national title implications.
That part of the sport is ruined. But with that ruin comes this side where teams outside the Top 5 in the country still feel like they have a chance to compete for a championship.
It will be Kalen DeBoer’s first Saturday night in Death Valley. And Jalen Milroe’s only. Can Brian Kelly do what Les Miles never did, beat Alabama two straight in Baton Rouge?
An LSU win propels the Tigers toward a manageable back half of conference play that includes two home games with Vanderbilt and Oklahoma sandwiched around a trip to Gainesville where quarterback injuries may be catching up to the Gators.
With a monster recruiting haul waiting to ink in December, a playoff birth for Kelly could be the start of positioning his program in future national title conversation. A second straight loss would be a deflating realization that the top of college football’s mountain may be further away than many thought just two weeks ago.
For DeBoer, Saban’s literal statue outside Bryant-Denny would cast a larger shadow on him should Alabama leave town a loser. Saban never lost three regular season games after 2010. He never lost to Vanderbilt. He never wore a t-shirt on the sidelines.
Safe to say those stakes are rather elevated.
So, no, this isn’t The Game of the Century. It is, however, the biggest game of the week. The new consequences of defeat in a matchup of two-loss teams is almost exactly what it was for unbeaten or one-loss teams in the previous era.
For so many reasons, this edition of LSU-Alabama feels different, but it’s exactly the same.
