Over the past 15-plus years, no rivalry in college football has repeatedly been as high-stakes in the month of November as the Alabama Crimson Tide‘s annual showdown with the LSU Tigers.
The 2024 edition of Alabama-LSU will be no different. When the Tide and Tigers tussle Saturday night in Baton Rouge, only one team will still be left with a realistic shot at reaching the 12-team College Football Playoff after Week 11.
Both teams are 6-2 overall, and a third loss is all but certain to ensure a postseason bid to a second-tier bowl game. Alabama is ranked No. 11 in this week’s US LBM Coaches Poll; LSU is ranked No. 13.
With Alabama and LSU set to meet for the 89th time, here are some important series notes: Alabama leads the all-time series, 56-27-5. Just as impressively, the Crimson Tide have lost only 10 times in Baton Rouge dating back to the first meeting between the two schools in 1895. Alabama is 29-10-3 all-time in Baton Rouge.
LSU won the last matchup between the two teams in Tiger Stadium, a thrilling 32-31 overtime victory led by Jayden Daniels. Before that, Alabama hadn’t lost in Baton Rouge since 2010.
RELATED: 5 Tigers to know ahead of Alabama vs. LSU
With another critical matchup on deck between the two rivals, Roll Tide Wire is taking a look back at some of the Crimson Tide’s best wins in Tiger Stadium through the years and ranking them based on their significance, impact on the national championship race, and the thrilling manner in which those games were decided.
Here are our rankings of the five best Alabama football victories in Tiger Stadium through the years.
5. Alabama 22, LSU 16 (Nov. 7, 1998)
Head Coaches: Mike DuBose (Alabama), Gerry DiNardo (LSU)
Key Alabama Players: Andrew Zow, Shaun Alexander, Quincy Jackson, Marcus Spencer.
Records, Poll Rankings Entering Game: Alabama (5-3, NR); LSU (4-4, NR)
Game Summary
LSU was poised for its first win in Tiger Stadium against an Alabama team since 1969. They led 16-7 and had first and goal inside the 5-yard line early in the fourth quarter. But on third down, Marcus Spencer made the first of two key fourth-quarter interceptions to keep the Tigers from taking a commanding three-score lead.
With just over two minutes left, Andrew Zow hit Shaun Alexander on a 21-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 16-14. Alabama went for the onside kick and recovered a wild scramble at the LSU 40-yard line. From there, Zow hit Quincy Jackson on a tipped pass for a 25-yard touchdown that gave the Tide an improbable 22-16 lead after a 2-point conversion with 38 seconds left. Alabama absolutely stole one from LSU on this afternoon in Tiger Stadium.
4. Alabama 55, LSU 17 (Dec. 5, 2020)
Head Coaches: Nick Saban (Alabama), Ed Orgeron (LSU)
Key Alabama Players: DeVonta Smith, Mac Jones, Najee Harris.
Records, Poll Ranking Entering Game: Alabama (8-0, No. 1), LSU (3-4, NR)
Game Summary
Note that this is the only game on this list that didn’t come down to the final play. Instead, it was DeVonta Smith’s Heisman Trophy highlight reel. The “Slim Reaper” caught eight passes for 231 yards, including a 65-yard touchdown on a deep ball from Mac Jones early in the second quarter and a 61-yard touchdown on Alabama’s next drive. Just before halftime, Smith made an acrobatic, one-handed grab in the back corner of the end-zone for a 20-yard touchdown — his third of the half to put Alabama up 45-14 at intermission.
Jones finished with 385 yards and four touchdowns on 20-of-28 passing, and Najee Harris had two touchdown runs in the first quarter to help jumpstart Alabama’s rout. The 55 points scored by the Tide were their highest total in the series’ history, and it was the team’s most lopsided win in the series since 1925.
3. Alabama 20, LSU 13 — OT (Nov. 8, 2014)
Head Coaches: Nick Saban (Alabama), Les Miles (LSU)
Key Alabama Players: Blake Sims, Amari Cooper, Christion Jones, DeAndrew White, O.J. Howard.
Records, Poll Ranking Entering Game: Alabama (7-1, No. 4), LSU (7-2, No. 16)
Game Summary
This was another game where Alabama trailed late in the second half against a top-tier LSU team at a raucous Tiger Stadium. When T.J. Yeldon fumbled deep in Alabama territory with 1:13 to go, the Tide was in serious peril until a personal foul penalty on LSU’s ensuing possession forced the Tigers to settle for a field goal.
With 50 seconds left, Blake Sims channeled A.J. McCarron’s heroics from two years earlier and led the Tide on a nine-play, 55-yard drive that put Alabama in field goal range. Adam Griffith’s 27-yard kick with 3 seconds left in regulation forced the latest in a series of Alabama-LSU games to be decided in overtime.
When Alabama got the ball in overtime, Sims hit tight end Brandon Greene for 24 yards and first and goal at the LSU 1. A few plays later, Sims found DeAndrew White on a fade route in the corner of the end-zone for a six-yard touchdown and, eventually, another thrilling win in Tiger Stadium. Amari Cooper had a game-high eight catches for 83 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter.
2. Alabama 27, LSU 21 — OT (Nov. 8, 2008)
Head Coaches: Nick Saban (Alabama), Les Miles (LSU)
Key Alabama Players: Rashad Johnson, John Parker Wilson, Julio Jones.
Records, Poll Ranking Entering Game: Alabama (9-0, No. 1), LSU (6-2, No. 15)
Game Summary
This for me was the biggest win during Nick Saban’s second year at Alabama. While the 2008 team had already beaten Georgia and Matthew Stafford in the Bulldogs’ failed “Blackout” game in Athens, Alabama hadn’t faced an environment like Tiger Stadium.
In a game with many momentum swings, Alabama overcame a blocked Leigh Tiffin field goal at the end of regulation. Rashad Johnson’s third interception came in overtime when he picked off a Jarrett Lee pass. John Parker Wilson hit Julio Jones for 24 yards and first and goal at the 1. Wilson scored on a quarterback sneak, and Alabama went on to finish the regular season 12-0 on the eve of the Saban dynasty in Tuscaloosa.
1. Alabama 21, LSU 17 (Nov. 3, 2012)
Head Coaches: Nick Saban (Alabama), Les Miles (LSU)
Key Alabama Players: A.J. McCarron, T.J. Yeldon, Kevin Norwood
Records, Poll Ranking Entering Game: Alabama (8-0, No. 1), LSU (7-1, No. 5)
Game Summary
Two teams meeting for the third time in the past calendar year with national championship implications on the line. This one had everything. As Verne Lundquist famously reminded viewers at the start of what turned out to be A.J. McCarron’s signature moment from that 2012 regular season: “They’ve… not… done… anything… with the football in this half.” He was right, but McCarron and company soon put together a game-winning drive for the ages.
Alabama started at its own 28 with 1:34 left. Kevin Norwood had three catches for 18, 15, and 11 yards, respectively, to move the Crimson Tide to the LSU 28. Then came the dagger. McCarron hit T.J. Yeldon on a beautifully designed screen pass, and the Daphne, Ala., native weaved his way through traffic for a breathtaking 28-yard game-winning touchdown with 51 seconds left. Instant classic.
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