By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Could the Tide be turning?
Las Vegas sees it that way.
No. 14 LSU (6-2, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) is a 6.5-point favorite to beat No. 5 Alabama (6-2, 4-2 SEC) on Saturday in Tiger Stadium (2:30 p.m., ABC).
The Tigers, who are 2-13 against the Crimson Tide beginning with the 21-0 loss to Alabama in the national championship game on Jan. 9, 2012, in New Orleans, have not been favored over the Tide since the 2007 game at Alabama in coach Nick Saban’s first season with the Tide. LSU was as high as a seven-point favorite before that game, according to Jimmy Ott of ESPN Radio 104.5 FM in Baton Rouge.
The Tigers won, 41-34, in the 2007 game.
Alabama +6 at LSU marks the largest the Tide has been an underdog in a regular-season game since 2008 when they were +6.5 at Georgia, per ESPN Research. Alabama won that game 41-30.
— Brandon Zimmerman (@BZSEC) November 6, 2026
Could it be the Lane Kiffin factor? The first-year LSU head coach is 0-5 as a head coach against Alabama – 0-1 at Tennessee in 2009 and 0-4 at Ole Miss in 2020, ’21, ’22 and ’23. All those losses came against then-Alabama coach Nick Saban, who retired after the 2023 season. Kiffin has never faced Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer as a head coach.
Alabama up to a 6.5-point underdog on DraftKings to LSU, which would be the largest spread for the Tide as an underdog against an SEC team since it was a 9.5-point underdog to Florida in the 2008 SEC championship game.
— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) November 5, 2026
“As we look at numbers, this rivalry’s gone the other way a lot lately,” Kiffin said.
Alabama has won three straight and six of the last seven in Tiger Stadium.
“So, it’s time to start turning that around,” Kiffin said.
LSU does enter the game healthier than Alabama, which had five starters questionable with injuries as of Thursday.
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