College Football: Each conference’s biggest sleeper contender for 2019

SEC: LSU Tigers

Undoubtedly, it will take a lot to unseat Alabama as the SEC Champion. The Crimson Tide have won the SEC four out of the last five seasons and also emerged as College Football Playoff National Champions twice.

For a team that has become arguably the most dominant team in college football during this decade, there aren’t many teams that have the talent to match up with an Alabama roster laden with NFL-caliber players.

LSU, however, could be the team that is fit to answer the bell. The Tigers, led by fiery head coach Ed Orgeron, are coming off a successful 10-3 season in 2018 that culminated in a Fiesta Bowl win.

Quarterback Joe Burrow has the chance to parlay his strong play from the tail end of last season to cap his two-year LSU career. Burrow was more of a game manager during the early stages of the season, but In the final three games of 2018, he threw for nine touchdown passes.

Last season, LSU was a ground-and-pound offensive team. The rushing attack was led by Nick Brosette, a 1,000-yard rusher who scored 14 touchdowns.

Brosette graduated but the Tigers still have junior Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who rushed for 658 yards and seven touchdowns a year ago. He figures to take the baton from Brosette and be the main back in the rotation.

The Tigers also had one of the top defenses in the country in 2018, and despite sustaining the losses of linebacker Devin White and cornerback Greedy Williams, LSU should once again have a stalwart defense.

The Tigers return Jacob Phillips, who tallied the second-most total tackles on the team in 2018 (87) as well as Grant Delpit, who led the team with five interceptions and was named a unanimous first-team All-American.

LSU is in the same West division as Alabama. Therefore, reaching the SEC Conference Championship Game would most likely mean defeating the Crimson Tide during the regular season.

This feat hasn’t been accomplished since 2011 when No. 1 LSU beat No. 2 Alabama in overtime. While the Crimson Tide is almost always the favorite to win the SEC, LSU could be a sleeper pick in the SEC to not only win the conference, but to also turn the tides against Alabama.