LSU is now only three wins away from a likely playoff berth, so with such high aspirations it would be easy to overlook the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Arkansas fixed that last week. The ugly win in Fayetteville left the Tigers wanting more, especially offensively. LSU will enter the game today with the intent to show the college football world that they’re closer to the team that beat Alabama than they are to the team that scraped by Arkansas. To be clear, this is not a game that LSU can win by simply showing up; anything can happen. There are three things I’d like to see from LSU to both win this game and prove they’re back on the right track.

Dictate Offensively

We’ve all heard the saying, “Take what the defense gives you,” and that is the right approach. However, you can affect what the defense decides to give you with personnel groups and formations. LSU was slow in adjusting their play calling last week, and the offense never got in a rhythm. The Tigers have an obvious personnel advantage in this game. They should be able to force the Blazer defense to react to the Tiger offense, and that should start with running the ball.

Clean Up Special Teams (again)

The unprecedented run of special teams mistakes continued last week. The string of penalties and gaffes are almost comical; at this point the officials are letting the opposing team pick which penalty they’d like to accept from the litany of flags on the field after a punt return. I’ve been conditioned to be satisfied with LSU catching punts and kicks cleanly with no return yardage. That should not be the case for a team with this much skill.

Honor the Seniors

This will be the last time the seniors for LSU suit up in Tiger Stadium. Some stayed through disappointing 2020 and 2021 seasons when so many others left. Some transferred to LSU years after not getting an offer out of high school. Either way, these are guys that obviously want to be here. They should be respected as such. The best way to honor these young men is to play with the intensity of a player that understands the sacrifices they made to get LSU back to the standard it’s held for so long.

UAB is not a pushover. They’ve lost some close games and will bring a big, physical running back that already has over 1,400 yards rushing on the season. Honestly, I’m more focused on LSU than UAB today. The Tigers need to show not only the playoff committee, but themselves that they are elite. The SEC Championship has a completely different feel if LSU loses a game before then. Geaux Tigers!!