This weekend, No. 14 LSU will take on No. 11 Alabama in a massive SEC matchup. LSU will reportedly have an unexpected presence on the sideline Saturday: a live tiger.

Per multiple media reports, the Tigers will have a live mascot for the first time in nearly a decade, with state Sen. Bill Wheat confirming the news to the Louisiana Illuminator. The school has not had a tiger in the stadium since 2015, following the death of mascot Mike VI from cancer in 2016.

The return of the tiger is seemingly in response to Gov. Jeff Landry, who said earlier this fall that he wanted to bring a live mascot back to LSU. Surgeon general Ralph Abraham, who is a veterinarian, has also been instrumental in the operation. Per the Illuminator, Landry set up an unofficial committee to lobby LSU on the issue, involving Wheat, who is also a veterinarian.

Wheat told the Illuminator that the live mascot will not be Mike VII, the 8-year-old tiger who became the school’s mascot in 2017. Mike VII lives in an enclosure across from the stadium, and has never attended an LSU football game.

Abraham had reportedly suggested bringing in a second tiger to address concerns about bringing Mike VII to a game. The origin of the second tiger and whether it will be taken care of by the school is currently unclear.

Mike VI, the previous mascot, was the final tiger to grace the sideline at Tigers games. As with previous Mikes, Mike VI was placed in a trailer cage and brought to the stadium, and was occasionally provoked to roar.

Mike VII, the current mascot, was donated from a sanctuary in Florida as a cub in 2017, according to a website run by the school, at which point the school decided to stop the gameday tradition. Per the school, LSU has not bought a tiger since Mike III, and has only adopted cubs from rescue facilities.

Alabama shifted about 3% toward President-Elect Donald Trump in Tuesday’s election. But if unofficial returns are correct, that may have less to do with new Republican votes than a shrinking pool of Democratic ones.

Trump got about 1.4 million votes (65%) in Alabama on Tuesday, according to numbers from the Alabama Secretary of State’s office, while Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, got about 766,680 (34%).  About 58.5% of registered voters in Alabama participated in the election, the lowest number since 1988.

But Trump’s support was relatively unchanged from his numbers in 2020. According to the Secretary of State’s figures, Trump only added 11,540 votes to his total. Harris’ total fell by almost 82,000 votes — a drop of about 9.6% — over President Joe Biden’s numbers in 2020. 

Experts say this shift points to declining Democratic engagement rather than a surge in Republican support.

Randy Kelley, chair of the Alabama Democratic Party, and several political science professors cited a lack of competitive races and stricter voting access rules as factors behind the lower Democratic turnout. John Wahl, chair of the Alabama Republican Party, pointed to sustained Republican outreach and demographic shifts as the GOP focuses on working-class and minority voters.

“They had many less Democrats on the ballot this time. They had few options to choose from,” Kelley said in a phone interview Wednesday.

Democratic turnout decreased across the state in both rural and urban areas with significant losses in traditionally Democratic strongholds. In Jefferson County, for example, Democratic votes dropped by 20,000, while Republican votes fell by 8,000. In rural counties, the decrease was even more notable; in Franklin County, Democratic turnout dropped by 25%, compared to smaller decreases among Republicans. Similar drops were seen in the Black Belt, where Lowndes County showed a 22% decrease in Democratic votes from 2020.

Kelley said the limited options available to voters, especially in Black candidates, discouraged turnout. Kelley noted that fewer Black candidates ran in 2024 and said that the party must improve its recruitment efforts​.

“Candidates bring out their constituents, and without representation, it’s hard to get people excited about voting,” Kelley said.

Spencer Goidel, a political science professor at Auburn University, said that Alabama’s election landscape in 2024 lacked competitive races to encourage Democratic voters. Unlike in 2020, when then-incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Doug Jones’s campaign drew some left-leaning voters, the current election cycle offered limited engagement.

“If you’re a Democratic voter in Alabama, people can tell you it’s important to go out and vote, practice your civic duty, but at the end of the day, there’s not much of a reason to vote, and I think that that just filters down. It discourages people,” Goidel said​.

In Alabama’s seven congressional districts, only District 2 had a Democratic candidate — Shomari Figures — in races considered somewhat competitive. Figures defeated Republican nominee Caroleene Dobson in the district on Tuesday. 

Wahl said he believes a Republican focus on economic and educational issues may have contributed to Democrats’ smaller margins in these areas.

“We love to have these new minority voters coming to the Republican Party, kind of seeking refuge from how far left the Democrat Party has gone, and we’re excited about that,” Wahl said​.

Enrijeta Shino, a political science professor at the University of Alabama, sees Alabama’s results as part of a national trend where Democratic turnout has dropped while Republican enthusiasm remained steady. Shino said the votes in Alabama mirrored a broader pattern nationwide.

“That shows that Republicans were more energized, probably did better in get-out-to-vote mobilization for their base, and the messaging that they were getting from Trump resonated with them better than the messages Democrats were getting from Harris with her base,” Shino said.”

Alabama’s restrictive absentee voting rules in 2024 also may have affected turnout. The state had effective no-excuse absentee voting in 2020 in response to the pandemic, but state officials ended that program after that election. The change especially affected low-income and hourly-wage workers who may face greater challenges voting in person.

“When you only have Election Day voting, the cost of voting for people is higher, and when the cost of voting for people is higher, you’re going to see people who can’t get off work or have to take care of their children, can’t afford child care, people like that are going to be less likely turn out to vote,” Goidel said.

Denver Broncos outside linebacker Drew Sanders practiced for the first time with his teammates on Wednesday.

The Broncos placed Sanders on the physically-unable-to-perform list when they convened for training camp in July. Sanders tore an Achilles tendon during Denver’s offseason workouts.

Sanders’ practice appearance opens a 21-day window during which the Broncos can restore the linebacker to the 53-player active roster. If Denver does not put Sanders on its active roster during that period, he will stay on the PUP list for the remainder of the 2024 season.

Sanders played at Alabama in the 2020 and 2021 seasons before transferring to Arkansas for 2022 and joining the Broncos in 2023 as the 67th selection in the NFL Draft.

As a rookie, Sanders played in all 17 of Denver’s games, with four starts. He was on the field for 258 defensive snaps (23 percent of the Broncos’ total) and 297 special-teams plays. Sanders made 24 tackles, recorded one tackle for loss and recovered one fumble.

Sanders began practice on the heels of the Broncos’ trade of outside linebacker Baron Browning to the Arizona Cardinals on Monday. Browning had started two games for Denver this season.

Two other players with Alabama football roots returned to NFL rosters on Wednesday.

Defensive tackle Travis Bell (Jeff Davis, now known as J.A.G.) joined the Minnesota Vikings’ practice squad. The first player drafted from Kennesaw State when he joined the Chicago Bears in the seventh round in 2023, Bell played in two games for the Atlanta Falcons last season. After going through the offseason, training camp and preseason with the Cincinnati Bengals, Bell was on the Bears’ practice squad until being released on Oct. 15.

Outside linebacker Jamie Sheriff (South Alabama) returned to the Seattle Seahawks’ practice squad. Sheriff made his NFL debut as an undrafted rookie in the Carolina Panthers’ season-opening game. Carolina had claimed Sheriff off waivers after he’d been let go by the Seahawks at the end of the preseason. When the Panthers waived Sheriff on Sept. 10, Seattle picked him up for its practice squad. He played in one game as a practice-squad elevation but was released on Oct. 30.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.