Joel Klatt isn’t sugarcoating Alabama’s trip to Baton Rouge.
With the Crimson Tide headed to Tiger Stadium for a Week 10 showdown against LSU, the Fox Sports analyst made it clear he sees a rough night coming for Kalen DeBoer’s team. Alabama enters at 6-2 overall and 4-2 in the SEC, ranked No. 9 in both the US LBM Coaches Poll and the AP Top 25.
LSU is 6-2 and 3-2, sitting at No. 15 in both polls. In the College Football Playoff rankings, Alabama checked in at No. 5 and LSU at No.
Klatt called the matchup a bad one for Alabama and said the Tigers’ pass rush could be the difference.
“Bad matchup for Alabama in this one. I think it’s a terrible matchup.
Because if Kalen DeBoer gets into a big game, typically, they throw the football a lot and they don’t run it very well. When that happens, they have to protect their quarterback, and if they can’t protect their quarterback, they don’t win.
And LSU is a terrific pass rushing team.”
That’s the heart of Klatt’s case: LSU can get after the quarterback, and Alabama has had trouble holding up when pressure shows up. He pointed to Blake Baker’s defense, which ranks second nationally in sacks with 34 and is tied for third in total defense at 258.1 yards allowed per game. Princewill Umanmielen’s 8.5 sacks are tied for fourth in FBS.
“You would think that Bama, on the offensive line, would do a good job of protecting their quarterback. Not the case,” Klatt said. “We saw pressure against Tennessee, pressure against Georgia, and LSU in the pass rush might be better than both of those teams.”
He also doesn’t expect Alabama to lean on the run game with much success. The Tide were held to 54 rushing yards in a 26-10 loss at Tennessee on Oct. 17, then managed just 68 rushing yards in a 31-20 win over Texas A&M the following week at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
“Each of the last two times that they played LSU in Death Valley, Alabama’s been held under 70 yards rushing,” Klatt added. “And (those were) even with better Alabama teams and teams that are more willing to run the football.”
On the other side, Klatt thinks LSU can avoid the kind of mistakes that have hurt it in both of its losses. The Tigers have dropped two games by one score, falling 32-24 at Ole Miss in Week 3 and 35-34 at Kentucky on a two-point conversion in overtime on Oct. 10.
Klatt said quarterback Sam Leavitt has been playing at a high level since that Kentucky loss. Against Mississippi State, Leavitt threw for 289 yards and four touchdowns in a 31-0 win. He followed that with 388 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-7 victory at Auburn.
“He’s taking care of the ball. He gets Trey’Dez Green back.
You’ve got some guys back for Alabama (but) I don’t know how much they’re going to give you. Ryan Coleman-Williams is going to be back.
Zabien Brown might be back. I just think LSU, they’re going to be a team that’s going to be very difficult to beat in this one.”
Coleman-Williams was listed as questionable on Wednesday’s SEC availability report.
Klatt’s final call was blunt: LSU 30, Alabama 17. He said he expects the Tigers to sack Keelon Russell five or more times, and that’s enough for him to back LSU in a game Alabama has rarely lost in Baton Rouge since 2008.
Klatt has been mostly right on Alabama this season, going 4-1 in his picks. He nailed Crimson Tide wins over Kentucky, Florida State and Mississippi State, and correctly picked Georgia to beat Alabama. His lone miss came when he took Alabama over Tennessee, 31-17.
He also had plenty to say about the CFP committee’s first rankings, blasting Alabama’s No. 5 spot. With LSU favored by 6.5 points, Klatt mocked the gap between the committee and the betting line.
“Oh my goodness! You mean Vegas doesn’t agree with the committee, either?
No, they don’t. No one does.
Literally no one. Not even Bama fans.
Maybe Paul (Finebaum)? I don’t know.
He added that the committee thinks Alabama is “the greatest team since sliced bread” and continued:
“Did they lose two games. No way.
No way. It was like a figment of our imagination, guys.
They didn’t lose two games. No way.
They beat Mississippi State, who was undefeated at the time.”
Saturday’s matchup is one of several heavyweight games on a loaded Week 10 slate. Miami visits Notre Dame in a top-five clash, Utah hosts BYU, Georgia travels to Ole Miss, and Texas goes to Missouri.
Alabama and LSU kick off at 2:30 p.m. CT Saturday at Tiger Stadium.
The game will air on ABC, with Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit on the call. Holly Rowe and Laura Rutledge will report from the sideline.
The Crimson Tide Sports Network feed will also be available on SiriusXM channel 84 and The Varsity App.
Alabama’s 2026 schedule, all times Central, also includes trips to Vanderbilt and LSU, plus home games against Chattanooga and Auburn later in the season.
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With the Southeastern Conference now requiring injury reports for football, basketball and baseball conference games starting in 2024, Alabamas weekly availability picture has become part of the conversation as much as the matchup itself. Heading into its seventh SEC game of the 2026 season against LSU, the Crimson Tide is still sorting through a roster that has been hit by injuries, even as head coach Kalen DeBoer said several previously sidelined players are making progress in their recoveries.
There is still no shortage of uncertainty around the depth chart, though, and Alabama is carrying some season-ending absences into this stretch, including Jeremiah Beaman and Cayden Jones. For a team entering one of the SECs biggest rivalry games, the question is less about who is already ruled out and more about which of the recovering players can actually make it back in time to matter against LSU. [Read more 🡒]
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Alabamas first availability report for LSU week brought a familiar kind of late-season concern, with five starters and one key running back listed as questionable because of injuries. There is some optimism around several of those names, including Ryan Coleman-Williams, Terrance Green and Racin Delgatty, but the list also leaves room for real uncertainty as the Crimson Tide work through the week.
Zabien Brown, Will Sanders and EJ Crowell are among the players whose status remains less clear, and that is where the issue starts to matter beyond just the injury report itself. How much depth Alabama has to lean on, and how effective it can be if a few of those pieces are limited or unavailable, could shape the way this matchup with LSU unfolds. [Read more 🡒]
Alabama Just Landed In A Playoff Debate Fans Know Too Well
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For Alabama, the debate is familiar and likely to linger as the season moves on, because the committee has made clear that head-to-head results do not automatically settle the order. Both teams still have games ahead that could reshape the picture, and with the rankings still fluid, this is the kind of argument that can follow the Crimson Tide all the way to the final bracket. [Read more 🡒]