LSU Tigers cares so much about Alabama Crimson TIde

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Ed Orgeron, the LSU's current head coach, grew up in Louisiana by engaging with McLendon teams. When Miles was fired, Orgeron was chosen to succeed him. His fourth match as an interim head coach was a 10-0 loss by tractor against Bama at home. Last season, they lost 24-10 in Tuscaloosa.

"People stop me wherever I go – the grocery store, the restaurants, etc. – and they say two things," O coach explained in his Cajun roar. "They say," We are behind you, Coach, because you are one of us. "Then they say," But you better beat Alabama. "

From the French Quarter Balconies to the Shreveport Casinos, if there are gathered people dressed in purple and gold, they probably measure the Tigers against the tide. This week, residents of Pelican State are holding these discussions with even more excitement than usual. Why? Because this Saturday, LSU and Bama will meet again in Baton Rouge, a n ° 1 fight against n ° 3 with a league championship and a possible invitation to the university football game.

"This week, Bama's speech may be a little louder than normal, but Bama's subject is a conversation 365 days a year over here," said Jacob Hester, former LSU QB radio host. sportsman at Baton. Red Affiliate ESPN Radio and nationally on the Sirius XM SEC channel. "I will not call it an obsession, but … OK, yes, I call it totally an obsession."

However, in Louisiana, where everything – houses, music, recipes – is old and classic, the intensity of this rivalry is not. Yes, this weekend marks the 83rd meeting between the two teams. Yes, their first match took place on November 18, 1895. Yes, the almost 125 years since have been filled with great moments and players. During this century and more, LSU has won three national championships, 14 conference championships, 49 bowl participations, 31 consensus product and a Heisman Trophy winner. By 2019, he will probably reach the 900-victory plateau.

But the grass has always been greener – or scarlet – more than two states.

"There are 129 other schools that have the same problem in Alabama in terms of recruitment and resources, and everything in between, and we have the impression that it's been like this for 100 years," he said. Booger McFarland, one of those All-Americans from the LSU and now ESPN Analyst. "But for LSU, it's a garden problem.You've been so close to making your dreams come true, but the guy who kept you from doing it so often, he stands in your backyard."

Gerry DiNardo, who coached McFarland at LSU, understands.

"Charlie McLendon was telling me all the time that he could never beat Bama, and guess what – no one else could do it," said DiNardo, who spent five seasons here (1995-99) and was 1-4 against Alabama. He was fired a week after the last of those four defeats. But Charlie Mac also said no one in Baton Rouge cared what no one could beat [Alabama]. They only worried about why you could not. "

This evil is understandable. The roots of this pain are deeper than a living Louisiana oak. Alabama is leading the all-time 52-25-5 series. The Crimson Tide has had 12-1-3 streaks (1903-45), 11 consecutive wins (1971-81, the race that has shifted McClendon) and the current sequence of seven (the race that had Miles put at the door). When the series became an annual affair in '64, Bama won 16 of the next 18 games. In fact, the last time LSU took the lead in the series was in 1903, when it was 2-1.

Because of all this, LSU-Bama did not really become a big deal until the turn of the century, when the McFarland and DiNardo group had moved on.

OK, maybe that was a big problem on the west side of the match, where LSU got stuck in his perpetual pursuit. But on Yellowhammer's side, the Tigers have always ranked, at best, third among Bama's rivalries behind Auburn and Tennessee, and those flashes of importance were streaked at best. Then, in 2001, there was a change, thanks to two simultaneous events: the Tide entered their funk post-Gene Stallings and LSU hired DiNardo's replacement, Mr. Nicholas Lou Saban Jr.

"At LSU, Nick Saban made everyone believe that we were second, including Alabama," said Hester, whom Saban recruited from Shreveport. "He has set the tone that has been around since, forget what you've always said, we can be as good as these guys."

The Saban teams were not so good, they were better. He recorded a 4-1 record against Alabama, winning the SEC West three times, twice the title of the SEC conference and a national championship title in 2003. At the end of the 2004 season, he left to become the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. Hester remembers a farewell speech moved by the coach, swearing to the Tigers that he was torn apart and that the only reason he would leave Baton Rouge would be to be able to lead a team of the NFL.

Hester also remembers when the Bama-LSU game finally began to feel like a real rivalry.

"People are still talking about 2007, but it really started two years ago, the first year with Les," he said. "Alabama arrived in the Valley of Death in 4th place and we were 5th, they were loaded in. We also won in overtime (16-13) and it was shaken. "Print Yeah, we are not afraid of you." And we were not. "

From 2000 to 2007, LSU won seven of eight goals against Alabama and another national title. Finally, the Tigers contributed to the coaching reversals in Tuscaloosa.

This brings us to the often accepted reasoning that Hester mentioned, namely that 2007 was the real beginning of the rivalry between the LSU and Alabama, which has so often engulfed the national university football scene, including this weekend. end. Why 2007? It is at this moment that the game has become the Saban Bowl.

"The people here were not angry at Nick because they told us he was gone for the job of his dreams," Hester said. "But then, two years later, he's back in college football and from all the places he could have gone, that's Alabama?" Everyone was crazy about that. everybody is crazy about that. "

For five years, Bama vs. LSU became a Deep South Rocky vs. Apollo, exchanging reapers with a ridiculous force. Half a dozen games played in the inaugural Saban Bowl from 2007 to January 2012 were split 3-3, all but one decided by single-digit margins.

"This match, however, the only one in this competition, was not similar, has not been the same since this match," said Marcus Spears, who played for Saban at LSU in 2001- 04 and that is now a SEC network. analyst. He speaks of January 9, 2012.

"They played what could be the best regular-season game of their history in November and LSU won 9-6." You think, "OK, Bama is gone now." We have more to ourselves worry about these guys. "You win the SEC, you win a trip to the BCS national championship, then you get there and who's waiting for you – that same team you've already defeated: Alabama."

LSU has not only lost revenge, he has been skunked. Final score: 21-0. The Tigers offensive only crossed the midfield once a night. And that happened in New Orleans.

Even when LSU defeated Bama, he lost.

"It was like all this history and all of Alabama's problems since the beginning of the day, they all came back at the same time," said Hester, who was playing for the San Diego Chargers.