ESPN's College Football Playoff Predictor: What are the LSU Tigers Chances?

Garrett Nussmeier and the Bayou Bengals remain alive in the College Football Playoff race, but what are their chances?

Courtesy of LSU Football.

No. 14 LSU will take on No. 11 Alabama in a pivotal Southeastern Conference showdown on Saturday night with significant postseason implications on the line.

It's a game that will likely have the loser eliminated from the College Football Playoff conversation with the stakes as high as ever in Baton Rouge.

For Brian Kelly. he's preparing for a battle in Death Valley with his program treating it like every other SEC showdown.

“Each game we play is a new game in itself and I think it goes with what I talked about," Kelly said on Monday. “We’re much more focused on playing four quarters of football. Our focus last week was cleaning up the things we needed to do internally, so thinking about what we needed to do to play at a higher level. All that other stuff is out there, but it doesn’t help us relative to what we need to do. 

“There have been national talks about this as an elimination game, well if this is an elimination game, every game in the SEC is an elimination game. Everybody that has a loss or two losses is in an elimination game, so we can put that to rest. Each team in the SEC knows where they’re at, the records speak for themselves, this is about needing to play your very best when your best is needed.”

Heading into the Week 11 battle, what are the Tigers' chances of making the College Football Playoff? What are the expert college football models predicting to happen?

The Current Betting Odds: LSU Tigers vs. Alabama Crimson Tide

*(All odds according to DraftKings Sportsbook)*

Spread:
- LSU: (+3)
- Alabama: (-3)

Moneyline:
- LSU: (+124)
- Alabama: (-148)

Over/Under: 58.5

The Alabama Crimson Tide are currently a three point favorite heading into the Week 11 clash. A line that hovered around the 1.5 point mark a week ago, Vegas continues leaning towards the Tide as the favorites on Saturday night.

The ESPN Playoff Predictions: What are LSU and Alabama's Chances?

It's a Week 11 showdown that will have all eyes locked in on the LSU Tigers versus Alabama Crimson Tide in a "College Football Playoff Elimination Game" on Saturday.

Heading into the clash, LSU has a 22% chance to make the College Football Playoff, according to ESPN's Playoff Predictor.

For Alabama, the Crimson Tide will have a 56% chance at making the playoff with a significant advantage looking ahead.

Both programs enter Saturday night with two losses. The loser will seemingly be instantly eliminated from postseason opportunities.

The stakes couldn't be higher with the predictions already beginning to come in.

What does ESPN's Football Power Index believe will happen on Saturday night? What are the analysts thoughts?

A look into a pair of early predictions for Week 11 in Baton Rouge:

ESPN's Football Power Index Weighs In:

ESPN's Football Power Index predicts the outcome of each game on the College Football slate each week with the latest results being logged for Week 11.

Now, with this weekend's schedule inching closer, the FPI has placed an expert prediction for Saturday night in Death Valley.

The model heavily leans towards the Alabama Crimson Tide with Kalen DeBoer's club receiving a 69.8% chance to win the Southeastern Conference clash.

With this, the Tigers have received a 30.2% chance of pulling off the upset at home in a prime time matchup.

It's important to note that Brian Kelly is yet to lose a night game in Baton Rouge to this point, but ESPN's Football Power Index continues heavily leaning on the Crimson Tide to spoil his hot streak.

Fox Sports' Joel Klatt Chimes In:

Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt has logged his prediction for this Saturday night in Baton Rouge.

Alabama remains a three point favorite, according to DraftKings Sportsbook, with Klatt also favoring the Crimson Tide.

“Remember, ‘Bama has the win over Georgia. And in this case, I would have them winning, at night, at LSU. So, they’re in. They’re absolutely in," Klatt said of Alabama's College Football Playoff chances.

The Crimson Tide, like LSU, will be idle in Week 10 before next Saturday's clash, but will certainly have all the momentum heading into Nov. 9.

After a 34-0 victory in their last matchup versus Missouri, Alabama is clicking on all cylinders heading into next weekend in Baton Rouge.

“That was a big bounce-back win for Alabama on Saturday, even if it was against a Missouri team that has been overrated since the beginning of the season. Alabama’s defense played incredibly well after a few weeks of underwhelming play," Klatt said.

"I’m not sure how much we should take from that game because I don’t think Missouri is particularly good. But when you win 34-0 against an SEC opponent, it should mean something.”

No. 14 LSU will return to game action on Nov. 9 against the Alabama Crimson Tide with kickoff slated for 6:30 p.m. CT in Tiger Stadium.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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