Video: Saban Doesn’t Care About the College Football Playoff Poll

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WCBI/UA Athletics) – The University of Alabama football team began the new week of practice with an hour and 15 minutes of work in shells on Monday afternoon at the Thomas-Drew Practice Fields.

The Crimson Tide used its bye week to focus on fundamentals in preparation for the final stretch of the season. Alabama will return to action this weekend when the Tide hosts No. 19/20 LSU this Saturday, Nov. 4, at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The two SEC West rivals are set to kick off at 7:10 p.m. CT on CBS with Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson and Allie LaForce covering all the action.

After also having a bye last weekend, the Tigers come to Tuscaloosa with a 6-2 overall record, including a 3-1 mark in conference play. LSU is coached by Ed Orgeron, who is now in his second year in Baton Rouge and owns a 12-4 record while with the Tigers.

Alabama holds a 52-25-5 all-time advantage against LSU, including a 12-7 mark at home. The Tide has won six consecutive meetings between the two squads dating back to the 2011 BCS National Championship Game. Most recently, Alabama came away with a 10-0 victory in Baton Rouge a season ago.

Nick Saban met with the media prior to practice on Monday afternoon. Following is his opening statement:

“We had a very acceptable bye week last week in terms of the work and the things that we were able to do. There were a lot of opportunities for a lot of players to improve and get some repetitions. The young players especially were able to get closer to be able to play winning football. This is obviously the most challenging part of our season. We need everybody’s energy and everybody’s focus and intensity to prepare for the games, this game in particular. This part of the season really defines who you are, defines you as a team, and creates a total identity for the team that you are. Good preparation and focus is really important to not get lost in what’s in front of you in terms of the challenges that we have starting this week with a very good LSU team.

“LSU has gotten better as the season is going on. Probably the worst thing to happen for all of us in the SEC is when they lost to Troy. They’ve really made a turnaround as a team, which I think speaks volumes of the coaching staff and the job Ed Orgeron has done there to get the players to re-center, refocus and work on improving. They’ve been very productive since that time and they’re playing very well as a team.

“This game has turned into a huge rivalry through the years since I’ve been here especially, probably even before that. Since 2007, both teams have been ranked in the top-20 in each one of these games that we’ve played, and I don’t think that this one is really any different. LSU has done a great job taking care of the ball this year on offense, they only have like 5 or 6 turnovers for the whole year. Offensively, they’ve done a great job of running the ball and they have a great running back. The quarterback has been very efficient in his passing and how he runs the offense. They’ve got a great receiver in #7 (DJ Chark). Their defense is ranked nationally in a lot of categories and has played very well. Pretty typical sort of LSU team in terms of how they play and what they’re doing and what they’re doing very well. They’re always good on special teams because they have really good team speed. They’ve got really good returners so they’re very good in the return game. All around, I think this is probably the best team we’ve played to this point in the season, especially the way they’re playing right now. This will be certainly the most challenging game we’ve had to this point.”