Nothing in LSU's first six games suggests the Tigers have any hope of upsetting a top-three rival on the road. This was a team that struggled mightily against Washington in the opener and required a dramatic goal line stand to win at Mississippi State -- without defensive and special teams touchdowns that overcame the Tigers' offensive malaise in those games, there wasn't much to suggest they could win anywhere of any consequence. After coming back to beat Georgia in a game that featured zero touchdowns in the first three quarters, LSU returned home to narrowly avoid being shut out by Florida, 13-3, without coming close to the end zone. The offense still ranks dead last in the SEC in total yards per game.

For the optimists, though, there are the last two weeks, in which the LSU offense has found a little life off a post-Florida bye: The Tigers racked up 31 points against Auburn, their best output against the division's other Tigers since 2002, and hung 42 points on overmatched Tulane, their first game this year with 40 points or (not and) 400 total yards. Jordan Jefferson is emerging as one of the most efficient passers in the SEC, and his backup, true freshman Russell Sheppard, is coming on as a dangerous big-play threat as a runner, with long touchdowns runs in each of the last two games to complement the between-the-tackles thumping of regular tailback Charles Scott.

And by all appearances, this is the right time to catch Alabama. The Tide's surprisingly balanced offense through their 4-0 start in September has disappeared into a cloud of dust as they get deeper into the SEC slate, carried to a great extent by the Heisman-worthy legs of Mark Ingram but still held out of the end zone entirely by Tennessee and in three of four quarters by both Ole Miss and South Carolina. Quarterback Greg McElroy has looked increasingly like the "game manager" holding down 'Bama's rankings in the preseason, and the perfect season has looked increasingly vulnerable as the weeks go by.

If you're convinced enough that the Tigers and Tide have each come that far in opposite directions over that short a period of time, LSU might well be worth your bet; if so, they're also on the verge of a late push for the SEC and national championships.

A nice thought, but I'm not sure how anyone can get past the Tigers' last effort against an elite, top-ranked defense and still consider them a threat to bring down an outfit as consistent and not prone to breakdowns as Alabama. The impotent attack on display against Florida isn't even a threat to score a touchdown against the similarly monolithic Tide D, which has matched the Gators for defensive dominance across the board on a weekly basis -- if Ingram's late fumble hadn't reopened the door for a late Tennessee touchdown, it would have been the Tide's third straight game without allowing a touchdown, an amazing streak that definitely should not be jeopardized by the conference's lowest-ranked offense.

Still, although its main responsibility here is not turning the ball over, there is some pressure on Alabama's offense to rekindle some of the spark that led to big games against Virginia Tech and Arkansas. Nick Saban said after the escape against the Vols that his team was "tired" after eight straight games without a week off, a plausible excuse for the offense's general decline and the steadily closing margins of victory. If McElroy continues to struggle with the downfield passing game, though, and the offense in general continues to settle for field goals after a bye week -- especially a bye week in which Saban specifically called for a more aggressive approach to stretching defenses vertically -- the malaise of the last few weeks will begin to look less like a temporary slide than a permanent cross to bear in the stretch run.