Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to “Statement Saturday,” the most significant day of the season thus far. The first CFP rankings were released Tuesday and we are just four weeks away from squabbling about the committee’s playoff selections and dying on our own personal “X Number of Teams Would Be Better” hill. But that’s for another day. Today we’re treated to Michigan-Penn State, Oklahoma-Texas Tech, West Virginia-Texas, Georgia-Kentucky, and of course, Alabama at LSU, the site of this week’s GameDay.

To state the obvious: today’s marquee matchup has serious implications for the SEC West and the CFP. LSU last won this game in 2011 so between that drought and the media’s constant fellation of Alabama, the Tigers are out for blood. According to GameDay’s Bear, the average halftime score in the last 10 years has been 9-5, and so it’s particularly meaningful that LSU’s LB Devin White is suspended for the first half due to a controversial targeting penalty last week vs. Mississippi State. They spent a great deal of time discussing this on the broadcast, and even brought in James Carville to rant about an SEC pro-Alabama conspiracy.

Following that, Rece Davis and Kirk Herbstreit went full Mark May-Lou Holtz on College Football Final vis-à-vis the targeting rule.

Game: #1 Alabama Crimson Tide at #3 LSU Tigers
Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Did Opposing Fans Show Up: It was more like Low Tide than Roll Tide.
Washington State Flag Status: 219 weeks and counting.

Best Sign


#FreeDevin

Worst Sign


Football > Spelling

Trivia
How many times has Washington State covered the spread this year?

Love is Blind
Disliking Coach Orgeron is like despising puppies, especially if you saw the segment on Coach O and his wife, Kelly. They met on a blind date at a football game. 

Kelly has scoliosis and required surgery to correct her spinal curvature. Her colon was punctured during the surgery and she almost died. Thankfully she is doing well now and no longer requires a colostomy bag. Their love for each other just seeped out of my screen.

You Had One Job Winner
Despondent, shirtless Florida State professor hate-reading Gillian Flynn’s Dark Places with his team down 49 points.

Guest Picker: LSU Alum and Houston Astros 3rd basemen, Alex Bregman. He took the opportunity to play a little ball with Maria Taylor.

Corso’s Headgear Pick:
Desmond and Herbie predictably picked Bama. Bregman went with his alma mater LSU in a 42-10 blowout. Bro.
After riling up the crowd, Corso went full troll and picked Big Al.

Mascot Antics
LSU’s Mike the Tiger noshing on meat shaped like his opponent remains one of the most wonderful things in all of college football.

Probable Week 11 Location
If Boston College wins today, I’ll say Clemson at BC. If not, I’m going with Bedlam.

Trivia Answer: Washington State has covered the spread Every. Single. Time. this season.

About Jill Cowan

Jill earned an honorary degree in sports snark from Twitter University. She resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she spends the fall months at Stanford Stadium. Jill loves flea flickers, Spider 3 Y Banana, and Jim Harbaugh rage. She detests visors and The Wave.