GLENN GUILBEAU

USA TODAY Network

BATON ROUGE — Coaching circles often overlap. Friends can find themselves coaching against friends, former coaches and former schools. And sometimes friends can help friends on the other side.

Such a circle may help LSU finally circle Alabama in the win column Saturday for the first time since 2011.

"After we played our enemy a couple of states over, one of my friends was on that staff," LSU coach Ed Orgeron said of his team's 24-10 loss at Alabama last year while speaking at a Baton Rouge Rotary Club luncheon on Aug. 1. "And he sent me their scouting report."

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Yes, a member of the Alabama "staff" sent Orgeron Alabama's scouting report on LSU for that game at some point after that game.

"I was embarrassed," said Orgeron, who was answering a question from the crowd about his recent addition of staff analysts and fully award that several media members were in attendance.

"To see the detail in which they had scouted us, and they had worked on us for a year, and to see the things that they had on us, I felt like I wasn't giving our team a fair chance to compete," Orgeron said.

Orgeron did not say the staff member was one of the then-nine Alabama assistant coaches or one of the more than 20 non-coaching football personnel at Alabama. He also did not say if that staff member is still on Alabama's staff in some capacity or had left.

When asked at a press conference three days later if the Alabama "staff" member he was friends with was still at Alabama, Orgeron laughed and said, "I'm just glad I got the scouting report, man."

The information in the scouting report on LSU's offense may not be very significant at all now since the Tigers have a new offensive coordinator in Steve Ensminger and a new quarterback in Joe Burrow. But to Orgeron, the intell illustrated to him how important analyst assistants are to a staff.

And Orgeron in the last year since the latest Alabama loss has been able to beef up his analyst staff with older, more experienced former coaches as opposed to young upstarts, and he feels much more prepared going into his next Alabama game.

That will be at 7 p.m. Saturday in Tiger Stadium on CBS when the No. 3 Tigers (7-1, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) host the No. 1 Crimson Tide (8-0, 5-0 SEC) for first place in the West and the inside track to the College Football Playoffs.

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Shortly after receiving that clandestine scouting report, Orgeron went right to LSU athletic director Joe Alleva.

"I said, 'Joe, we need more analysts.' He said, 'OK,'" Orgeron said. "So now, we've got 10 analysts, all right. Now, we don't have no army, but we're getting there."

Alabama has 13 analysts, according to sports information director Josh Maxson. That includes former Tennessee head coach Butch Jones.

LSU has 11 analysts now as opposed to eight last year, according to its media guide, including new hires Kevin Coyle, 62, and Mark Criner, 50, on defense.

Coyle is a former NFL secondary coach at Cincinnati in 2016 and '17 and 2001-11 with a stint as Miami's defensive coordinator from 2012-15. He was also defensive coordinator at Fresno State (1997-2000) and Maryland (1994-95) after coaching Syracuse's defensive line (1991-93).

Criner is a former linebackers coach at Rhode Island, Lamar, Eastern Michigan and Minnesota and was defensive coordinator at Idaho (2007-12), Middle Tennessee (2004-05) and at Cincinnati (2002-03).

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On the offensive side, Orgeron hired former Louisiana-Lafayette offensive coordinator Jorge Munoz in February as an analyst. Munoz, 42, was the Cajuns' wide receivers coach in 2017, offensive coordinator in 2016, wide receivers coach from 2011-15 and quarterbacks coach from 2008-10. He was Eastern Illinois' offensive coordinator in 2007.

Among the analysts on LSU's staff hired before 2018 are former Tulsa and Louisville head coach Steve Kragthorpe, who was LSU's quarterbacks coach in 2011 and '12, and Blaine Gautier, a former Cajuns quarterback from 2009-11.

"Oh man, we've got a lot of analysts now," LSU defensive end Rashard Lawrence said Monday. "We've got guys everywhere. They work on the game plan, scouting. They give you tips and reminders. Mainly it's an extra set of eyes out there. I'm excited to see how they help us in this game. And it's guys who have experience coaching, not just guys they get off the street."

Orgeron said he and his coordinators Dave Aranda on defense and Steve Ensminger on offense and other assistants immediately felt their workload shrink with the new analysts.

"In May, most of our coaches are out recruiting, so the analysts were breaking down our opponents in detail, extensively. When our coaches came back in June, now we had the reports that big," Orgeron said proudly as he held his finger and thumb three inches apart. "Kevin Coyle spent 15 years in the NFL and 15 years in college football with many of those as a coordinator. So now, he's breaking down the film in advance and looking at things that can help Dave and presenting it to Dave."

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Orgeron said his opponent scouting reports have improved along the lines of Alabama's going into last year's LSU game.

"Last year on Wednesdays during the season, we were still trying to figure out our opponent," Orgeron said. "It's too late. We now have five on offense and five on defense. So, we are much better equipped to have an advance scouting report. We have one or two advance scouts who are not game planning on the next game any more. They're breaking down our next opponent. We did not have that last year."

Orgeron was asked at his press conference Monday to update his thoughts on his analysts originally shared at the Rotary Club luncheon.

"We spent a couple of days on each team over the summer," he said. "We broke down every game that Alabama played last year. We have a breakdown on every game they played this year. We know what hurts them. We know what they do very well."

Orgeron again praised Coyle, who is expected to leave LSU after this season to become defensive coordinator for the Atlanta Legends of the new Alliance of American Football that is scheduled to begin play in February.

"Think about this — Kevin Coyle is studying something (Alabama) as an NFL defensive coordinator for 15 years," Orgeron said. "He brings a wealth of knowledge, especially in the back end. Last year, we played the run very well against Alabama. They exploded on us in the passing game (183 yards from then-quarterback Jalen Hurts and 116 tea rushing yards). We are much more suited to play their passing game this year."

But Alabama is much better in the passing game this year as new starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, a sophomore from Ewa Beach, Hawaii, is No. 1 in the nation in passing efficiency at 238.8 (107 of 152 for 2,066 yards, 25 TDs, zero interceptions) and No. 3 in the SEC in passing yards a game with 258.2.

But who was the Alabama staff member who sent Orgeron the scouting report?

It wasn't Lane Kiffin, a friend of Orgeron's whom Orgeron coached with at USC twice and at Tennessee. Kiffin left Alabama's offensive coordinator post after the 2016 season to become Florida Atlantic's head coach.

There are two possible "suspects" in the scouting report espionage who are likely friendly with Orgeron. Both were on Alabama's coaching staff in 2017, but neither are now.

One is Burton Burns, who was Alabama's associate head coach and running backs coach from 2007-17 before becoming an assistant athletic director at Alabama. A New Orleans native known for his recruiting expertise like Orgeron, Burns was an assistant coach at St. Augustine High in New Orleans from 1986-93 when Orgeron was recruiting New Orleans as an assistant at Miami. Burns is now an assistant athletic director at Alabama.

The other is Karl Dunbar, a former LSU defensive tackle from 1986-89 from Opelousas who is the defensive line coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He coached Alabama's defensive line in 2016-17. Dunbar played under and has remained close to Pete Jenkins, who was LSU's defensive line coach in the 1980s, '90s, in 2000-01 when Alabama coach Nick Saban was LSU's coach, and in 2016 and '17 under Orgeron at LSU. Jenkins has long been close friends with Orgeron. Dunbar coached LSU's defensive line in 2005 and was LSU's strength coach under Saban and Jenkins in 2000 and 2001.