LSU vs. Alabama: Tide defense to show new looks Saturday night

Many LSU Tigers fans would likely point to starting quarterback Zach Mettenberger if asked for the team's Achilles' heel. While the first-year starter hasn't been awful, he hasn't been great while not being counted on to carry the team's entire offensive load.

Mettenberger has competed 112 of 198 passes (a .566 completion percentage) for 1,419 yards with 7 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. He'll have his biggest challenge Saturday night when the No. 5 Tigers host the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide and their high-octane defense.

Despite Mettenberger's sometimes-shaky play, you won't hear any Alabama players or coaches put him down, as Don Kausler Jr. of AL.com writes. Alabama junior cornerback Dee Milliner had nothing but praise for Mettenberger in a video posted by the site, and says the team will throw different looks at the LSU quarterback to throw him off:

"Great quarterback, a big-armed quarterback, does a lot of great things throwing the ball," Dee Milliner, the Crimson Tide's star junior cornerback, said Wednesday after practice. "He does a great job of operating and knowing what the defense does and hits the key holes on pass plays. He's checking a lot and doing some great things.

"We've got to come in and try to throw some different things at him, different schemes to try to mix him up."

The Tide and Tigers meet under the lights Saturday at 7 p.m. in a game televised by CBS.