LSU's team of analysts prepare Tigers for Alabama | LSU

Ed Orgeron stood in front of a crowd of LSU fans this summer and had a chance to beat Alabama last season.

The Crimson Tide had a distinct advantage before the first snap in Bryant-Denny Stadium, a 24-10 win over LSU.

The fact of the matter was, Alabama knew so much of what LSU was going to do before the Tigers did it.

It was a battle of analysts, and the Crimson Tide simply had more of them.

"One of my friends was on that staff, and he felt their scouting report," Orgeron said to the room of boosters back in August. "I was embarrassed at the detail in which they'd scouted us. They'd worked on us for a year.

"To see the things they had on us, I felt like I was not giving our team a chance to compete."

Saturday in Tiger Stadium.

After discovering Alabama's advantage, Orgeron went to athletic director Joe Alleva. The coach told his boss he needed to increase the number of analysts on staff. They had been already there, but Orgeron needed more.

What he got was an army of 11 staffers dedicated to game-planning and finding tendencies in opponents' schemes – most of all, Alabama.

The Tigers now claims the largest team of analysts in the Southeastern Conference, nearly every day in Alabama. (Even then, LSU has a slight advantage, as Alabama has nine.)

"I think it's helped all year," Orgeron said. "I know it has, for sure. We have more information. We're directing guys. We have information we give to Dave (Aranda, the Tigers' defensive coordinator). Dave runs it. We have guys in the meetings with all the coaches, making decisions, doing all kinds of stuff important for football. "

While analysts can not directly coach players, they can break down film and provide detailed scouting reports.

Preparation for this weekend LSU analysts picked apart every game the Tide played over the past two years, right up to its most recent game, a 58-21 thrashing of Tennessee on Oct. 20.

Even during other game weeks, Alabama is one of the most popular games in the world.

At this point, the LSU analysts should know what Alabama does and what will hurt them.

The analysts, in turn, pass that information down to players and coaches in the form of a large package that includes individual player summaries and what the team likes to run on each other down and distance.

"I remember my freshman year and last year, we did not really have many (analysts)," defensive lineman Rashard Lawrence said. "Then Coach O told us, 'I want to be better than a coach.' He's got guys everywhere watching practice, helping out as much as they can.

"They do wonders for our team in game-planning." "Sometimes you'll be preparing for a team and you'll see the analysts already working on games down the road."

The result is that LSU feels more prepared for this showdown against Alabama than it did in just about any other recent game in this series.

"They help in a big way," senior running back Nick Brossette said. "They break down everything for you. By the time you come back for the next week and get ready for the next game, they already have it laid out for you. They play a big game for this team. "

Follow Mike Gegenheimer on Twitter, @Mike_Gegs.