Tide seeking to clinch division title

By Staff
Alabama comes off its bye week with an opportunity to clinch its second consecutive Southeastern Conference Western Division title.
Standing in the way is LSU, which stays in the title hunt with a victory against the Crimson Tide.
Alabama (8-0, 5-0) has struggled to score touchdowns in its recent games, but the off week gave the Tide plenty of time to regroup.
Leading that attack will be running back Mark Ingram, who ranks second in the SEC with 1,004 rushing yards. He has eight rushing touchdowns so far and has also caught 19 passes for 186 yards and three more touchdowns.
Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy has completed 60 percent of his passes for 1,445 yards and nine touchdowns.
Trying to slow the Alabama offense will be LSU linebackers Kelvin Sheppard, Perry Riley and Harry Coleman. They have combined for 177 tackles, 15.5 tackles for a loss and two sacks to help the Tigers rank third in the SEC and seventh in the nation in scoring defense (12.13 points per game allowed).
But Alabama's defense isn't too shabby either. The Crimson Tide has the nations No. 4 overall defense, which has allowed 240.88 yards per game.
Defensive end Marcell Dareus leads Alabama with 4.5 sacks while Javier Arenas and Eryk Anders have four each. Alabama is tied for 14th nationally and tops in the SEC with 2.88 sacks per game.
LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson has completed 123-of-193 passes for 1,4221 yards, 11 touchdowns and only four interceptions.
Tiger receivers Brandon LaFell (37 receptions, 478 yards and eight touchdowns) and Terrence Toliver (38 receptions, 501 yards and three touchdowns) are the best receiver tandem in the SEC.
LSU has won five of the last six games against Alabama.