By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Let’s face it.
It hasn’t mattered if Alabama plays by day or by night in Tiger Stadium. The Crimson Tide usually beats LSU in Tiger Stadium around the clock and tends to its clock as well in this supposedly most feared place to play in all of college football.
Alabama is 30-10-2 all-time against LSU in Tiger Stadium for a .714 winning percentage. In night games at LSU, Alabama is 20-6-2 for the exact same winning percentage. And by day, Alabama is 10-4 in Tiger Stadium for, strangely, the exact same winning percentage of .714. Now, that’s scary.
The No. 14 Tigers (6-2, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) host No. 5 Alabama (6-2, 4-2 SEC) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday on ABC, having lost six of their last seven in Tiger Stadium to the Tide.
In 13 games in Tiger Stadium from 1996 through 2020, the Crimson Tide was 9-4 against LSU with four shutouts – 26-0 in 1996, 31-0 in 2002, 10-0 in 2016 and 29-0 in 2018 and a 55-17 win in ’20. The last time Alabama was in Baton Rouge two seasons ago, it won 42-13.
Through 15 games in Tiger Stadium from 1971 through 1998, Alabama was 14-0-1. From 2012 through 2024, Alabama was 6-1 in Tiger Stadium.
The most consecutive games LSU has ever won over Alabama in Tiger Stadium was two – in 2004 and ’06 and in 1946 and ’48.
It’s simple. Tiger Stadium is Bama’s Beach. Alabama fans love venturing west to Baton Rouge for basically a vacation from losses in Tiger Stadium as much as Louisianians love venturing east every spring and summer to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach in Alabama for vacations.
Tiger Stadium is basically Alabama’s private “Bama Breeze,” the great Jimmy Buffett song from 2006. Just sub in “Tiger Stadium” for “Bama Breeze” in the lyrics below: with a win
At the Bama Breeze
You can shoot some pool down there
You can act the fool down there
You can play it cool down there
Because, most likely, if you’re from and/or for Bama, you’re going to win.
At the Bama Breeze
You can drink some beer down here
Argue, laugh, and cheer down there
Pass another year down there (with another win)
Often, the Alabama Nation just takes over the stadium. After a 32-16 loss to Alabama in 1989, LSU coach Mike Archer complained about his team not being able to handle the noise – literally. When the Tigers were near Tiger Stadium’s south side, where the Alabama fans were, quarterback Tommy Hodson had trouble getting the call to his team.
“We couldn’t hear in our own stadium,” Archer said.
And that night, the Bama fans – mostly students – remained in the stadium long after everyone but the press had left.
Yeah, at the Bama Breeze
I turned 21 down there
Had too much fun down there
Stumbled out with the sun down there
The scenes were similar in more recent games, like the 42-13 Alabama win in 2024, the 55-17 win in 2020 and the 29-0 drubbing in 2018. And they seemingly feel so at home.
At the Bama Breeze
You’re one of our own down there
You’ll never drink alone down there
Good god, I feel at home down there
It’s like they like playing LSU in Baton Rouge more than in Alabama, and it’s no wonder. Alabama is only 16-10 against LSU in Tuscaloosa for a .615 winning percentage. And when they used to play in Birmingham, LSU was trouble for the Tide as it was 8-5-1 for just a .571 winning percentage.
Since 1971 @AlabamaFTBL is 21-5-1 in Tiger Stadium. I’m 13-0 there personally and will be in attendance this week as well! #RollTide https://t.co/JOMmRmH5Q9
— 🎙iTalkSEC (@italksec) November 2, 2026
Alabama fans just can’t get enough of Baton Rouge.
But this Saturday may signal the end to Red Stick as the Crimson Tide’s home away from home.
Former Alabama coaches Bear Bryant and Nick Saban are the main reasons LSU has historically struggled against Alabama in Tiger Stadium.
But beneath the tide of numbers there is hope that Tiger Stadium can stop being Bama’s Beach.
When LSU has had a great coach and Alabama had a pedestrian on the sidelines, it has dominated or fared well against Alabama home and away. Paul Dietzel was LSU’s coach from 1955-60 and was 2-0 against Alabama – 1-0 in Tiger Stadium in 1957 against Ears Whitworth and 1-0 in Mobile, Alabama in 1958 against, not a pedestrian, but it was Bear’s first year after a pedestrian. Bill Arnsparger was 2-0-1 against Alabama from 1984-86 – 2-0 in Birmingham and 0-0-1 in Tiger Stadium. And Nick Saban was owns the best record against Alabama at 4-1 from 2000-04 – 2-1 in Tiger Stadium and 2-0 in Tuscaloosa. He was 1-0 against Mike Dubose, 1-1 against Dennis Franchione and 2-0 against Mike Shula.
LSU may have that type of coach again in Lane Kiffin, who may have the edge over Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer. The two meet for the first time as head coaches on Saturday.
Kiffin was 0-5 against Saban at Alabama while he was at Tennessee (2009) and Ole Miss (2020-25). Kiffin hasn’t coached against Alabama since Saban’s last season in 2023.
“As we look at the numbers, this rivalry’s gone the other way a lot lately,” Kiffin said on his radio show Thursday night.
So much so, that it’s really not a rivalry from the Alabama perspective. It’s kind of a beach.
But for the first time since the 2019 season when No. 1 LSU and coach Ed Orgeron beat No. 2 Alabama and Saban, 46-41, and won the national championship, LSU may have the better roster.
And for the first time since 2007 when Saban was in his first season at Alabama, LSU is favored over Alabama by 6.5 points.
“So,” Kiffin said, “it’s time to start turning that around.”
And close the beach with all its Bama Breezes.
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