The Alabama-LSU football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Alabama Crimson Tide football team of the University of Alabama and LSU Tigers football team of Louisiana State University. Both schools are charter members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and both universities' sports teams have competed in the SEC's Western Division since the conference was split into two divisions in 1992. Alabama leads the series 52-25-5.
Video Alabama-LSU football rivalry
Series history
The series started in 1895, with a 12-6 win for LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The rivalry has been played in Baton Rouge; New Orleans, Louisiana; Birmingham, Alabama; Montgomery, Alabama; Tuscaloosa, Alabama; and Mobile, Alabama.
The teams began playing each other on an annual basis in 1964, with Alabama playing its home games at Legion Field in Birmingham, and LSU playing its home games on campus at Tiger Stadium. The series has been marked by long stretches where the home team has struggled. Alabama is 26-9-2 against LSU in Baton Rouge; they went 16-1-1 from 1965-98. Alabama has gone 7-11 in games played in Alabama since 1982. LSU has gone 4-14-1 in games played in Louisiana since 1982. There have been two overtime games each in Tuscaloosa (2005, 2011) and Baton Rouge (2008, 2014) respectively; the road team has won each time. In fact, in the series history, only 42% of games have been won by the team playing in its home state (excluding ties). In 1988, Alabama began playing its home game in the series on their Tuscaloosa campus at Bryant-Denny Stadium. LSU won the first game in the series after the move 19-18.
While Alabama controlled most of the series' early history by going 31-11-4 against LSU, the intensity and competitiveness has grown during the last three decades. Since Bear Bryant's retirement in 1982, Alabama leads the series 21-14-1. Four games in the last ten seasons have also been decided in overtime. A 2009 poll of SEC fan bases found that over 60% of LSU fans singled out Alabama as their most bitter rival, while Alabama fans mostly did not consider it to be a rivalry.
In 2007, the meeting was even more heated following Alabama's hiring of head coach Nick Saban, who had coached LSU to a National Championship; many media outlets dubbed the 2007 meeting the "Saban Bowl." Alabama leads the series 9-3 in the games played so far during the "Saban Bowl" era.
In their 2011 regular season matchup, No. 1 LSU beat No. 2 Alabama 9-6 in overtime at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, on November 5. Later, during the 2011 post season, the two were selected by the Bowl Championship Series to play each other again in the 2012 BCS National Championship Game, which was the first time since 1986 that the two teams played in a location other than Baton Rouge or Tuscaloosa. Alabama won the game 21-0. The rematch was the first BCS Championship Game to feature two teams from the same conference (as well as the same division), and was also the first shutout of any BCS bowl game in the BCS's 14-year history.
Maps Alabama-LSU football rivalry
Game results
Series record sources: 2011 Alabama Football Media Guide, 2011 LSU Football Media Guide, and College Football Data Warehouse.
See also
- List of NCAA college football rivalry games
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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