Bryant-Denny Stadium has been far kinder to the Crimson Tide than any opponent’s home in 2022. Alabama certainly had some gaudy point totals in Fayetteville and Knoxville, but they also nearly lost to an unranked Texas on the road on September 10 and took their first loss of the season on October 15 to Tennessee in the Volunteer State. That has Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt worried about the Tide’s November 5 road trip to Death Valley to take on an LSU squad coming off a 4-score win against a then No. 7-ranked Ole Miss.
Klatt told Colin Cowherd on “The Herd” that he worries about Nick Saban marching into his old stomping grounds and losing his second game in a month. “Alabama is gonna have to go there next week and it’s gonna be a night game,” Klatt said. “So, I mean, listen, I still think Bama is the better team. I think we would all say that now. Alabama struggles on the road, and we’ve seen that a couple of times this year and then last year as well.”
Saban has lost only once to LSU in Baton Rouge during his Crimson Tide head coaching career, back on November 6, 2010. His Alabama teams have lost on 3 other occasions to the Tigers, all in Tuscaloosa.
Joel Klatt on Brian Kelly’s Coaching Performance at LSU
Brian Kelly made it hard for LSU fans to be excited about his hiring because of baggage from his Notre Dame days — including the death of a student videographer in October 2010 due to his decision to stage a practice on a windy day — not to mention his fake accent during his LSU introduction at a Tigers basketball game back in December and his much-maligned TikToks with recruits throughout the 2022 cycle.
As it turns out, though, Kelly can coach, even if some forgot he his last 5 Fighting Irish teams all had double-digit wins. His first LSU team has knocked off Mississippi State, Auburn, Florida, and Ole Miss in SEC play en route to a 6-2 start.
During Joel Klatt’s appearance on “The Herd,” the FOX Sports analyst talked about Kelly’s comeback following a rough public relations start to his time in Baton Rouge. “We talked about Brian Kelly earlier in the year, I said that he was dangerously close to becoming, you know, out of step,” Klatt said. “And it’s like perception is reality in recruiting, and you don’t want to be the cringy guy that dances weird. You’re like, you don’t want to be the butt of the joke. Well, to his credit, he kind of went, stepped behind, right? He just kind of went back into the back room and started getting better. And now all of a sudden, what’s, what’s coming to the forefront is his ability to coach and not his ability to entertain.”
Finebaum Believes Nick Saban Could Have Won 8 or 9 Titles at LSU
Before Nick Saban surpassed Bear Bryant as the most legendary Tide coach Tuscaloosa has ever seen, he was a mediocre NFL coach and a national championship coach at LSU. While some see Saban ending up at Alabama as the greatest thing to ever happen to his career, Paul Finebaum told ESPN’s Matt Barrie during SportsCenter’s college football segment that believes he could have been an even bigger legend in Louisiana.
“I will argue this til my last day, Matt, that Nick Saban still carries a torch for LSU,” Finebaum said. “It was a special place. I don’t think he wanted to leave. “They won one with him and one without him. He’s won six at Alabama. Could he have nine or 10 at LSU? Yes, he could have.”
Could ESPN having broadcast rights to Alabama-LSU on November 5 have an effect on the content the network produces to promote the game? Certainly. That’s a big jump for Finebaum to make otherwise.
