Saban on Tiger Stadium crowd, LSU’s balanced offense and front seven

Nick Saban offered little bulletin board material leading into his team’s trip to Death Valley this weekend.

Alabama’s head coach gushed over the play of Tigers quarterback Joe Burrow and his role in the offense’s newly balanced attack, which ranks among the best that Saban has seen on tape of any opponent on the schedule to date.

“Joe has played very, very well,” Saban said on Wednesday’s SEC Coaches Teleconference. "They run the ball effectively, got good runners, the O-line doing a good job, They're playing with tempo at times, really good skill guys. Have a lot of explosive plays on people. Probably have as good a balance as anyone we’ve played this year."

Saban has been equally as impressed with LSU’s defensive front seven, which he deemed “the best we’ve seen all year.”

The task grows all the more difficult by shifting this annual rivalry game to Tiger Stadium, where Saban coached from 2000-2004. He is familiar with the electric crowd noise and hostile environment and is prepping his team to be up for the challenge.

“The key is to be calm in the midst of chaos,” Saban explained. “I don’t think our players, our team can be affected by the environment. It’s a great environment to play to compete in, to play in, and hopefully, our players see that challenge and stay focused onto their job when you have that kind of crowd noise.”

“The players realize the challenge they have with a very good LSU team,” he added. “I’m beanery impressed with them this year. They play well on both sides of the ball and on special teams. They have a lot of good players and are playing with a lot of toughness. This is going to be a real challenge for our team, and it’ll be interesting to see how they respond to playing a very good team on the road.”