BATON ROUGE – It's LSU football-Alabama week.

And Kim Mulkey and the LSU women's basketball make their return to the hardwood to kick off the 2024-25 season. Plenty going on this week in LSU athletics.

Nick Saban will be in town but he won't be coaching the Alabama Crimson Tide as he'll be on set Saturday morning of ESPN's College Gameday, which will be on campus for the LSU-Alabama showdown that'll likely be a de facto College Football Playoff elimination game inside Tiger Stadium.

In this week's LSU mailbag, we're answering questions about the Tigers (6-2, 3-1 SEC) taking on the Tide (6-2, 3-2) as well as taking a look at LSU women's basketball.

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Is Alabama game biggest game of Brian Kelly's tenure with LSU football?

Kelly shocked plenty of people in his first season in Baton Rouge by leading LSU to the SEC West championship, playing Georgia in Atlanta for the SEC title. En route to the SEC championship game, Kelly and the Tigers knocked off Saban and the Tide in overtime at Tiger Stadium.

LSU played for a conference title that season, but it fell short of the College Football Playoff.

The Tigers have a chance to stay in the hunt for the newly expanded 12-team playoff this year and the way to remain in consideration is the beat Alabama Saturday night. Kelly hasn't been able to guide LSU to the playoff.

That makes Saturday's game against the Crimson Tide Kelly's biggest game of his tenure.

Do you think Garrett Nussmeier, Harold Perkins Jr. go pro after this season?

For LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, if his NFL Draft stock continues to rise like it has this season so far, it's going to be harder and harder to turn down that money. I've seen Nussmeier in some mock drafts projected as high as the 10th overall draft pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Harold Perkins' case is a little more complicated. He's a projected second-round prospect as an eligible junior and obviously, he's currently hurt right now with the ACL tear.

But if you think Perkins' path and trajectory at LSU to this point, it hasn't been great for him. Coaches have rarely known what to do with him. Perkins' measurables are off the charts for the next level, couple that with throwing out the risk of any more injury, I would speculate he's played his last game in an LSU Tiger uniform.

What is the outlook for Kim Mulkey and LSU women's basketball this season?

There's no Angel Reese but Kim Mulkey returns plenty of star and firepower on this season's squad. Flau'jae Johnson is a bona fide star and she should be this team's leading scorer.

Aneesah Morrow will be a double-double machine with Reese now in the WNBA and she's got her eyes set on defensive individual goals like the school's steals record. Sophomore guard Mikaylah Williams is the reigning SEC Freshman of the Year and I look for her to contribute more on both ends of the floor.

LSU's got a strong core but it has some questions, mainly inside the paint, where I think the SEC will be deeper across the league this season. And when the Tigers are playing in the NCAA Tournament, they're going to see uber-talented bigs.

Finishing third or higher in the SEC and making it the Sweet 16 would be a solid season for this group.

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Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU mailbag: Brian Kelly's biggest game v Alabama, LSU WBB outlook