Series history Alabama–LSU football rivalry

sideline picture of alabama vs lsu on november 5th 2011

the series started in 1895, 12–6 win lsu in baton rouge, louisiana. rivalry has been played in baton rouge; new orleans, louisiana; birmingham, alabama; montgomery, alabama; tuscaloosa, alabama; , mobile, alabama.

the teams began playing each other on annual basis in 1964, alabama playing home games @ legion field in birmingham, , lsu playing home games on campus @ tiger stadium. series has been marked long stretches home team has struggled. alabama 26–9–2 against lsu in baton rouge; went 16–1–1 1965–98. alabama has gone 6–11 in games played in alabama since 1982. lsu has gone 4–14–1 in games played in louisiana since 1982. there have been 2 overtime games each in tuscaloosa (2005, 2011) , baton rouge (2008, 2014) respectively; road team has won each time. in fact, in series history, 42% of games have been won team playing in home state (excluding ties). in 1988, alabama began playing home game in series on tuscaloosa campus @ bryant–denny stadium. lsu won first game in series after move 19–18.

while alabama controlled of series history going 31–11–4 against lsu, intensity , competitiveness has grown during last 3 decades. since bear bryant s retirement in 1982, alabama leads series 20–14–1. 4 games in last ten seasons have been decided in overtime. 2009 poll of sec fan bases found on 60% of lsu fans singled out alabama bitter rival, while alabama fans did not consider rivalry.

in 2007, meeting more heated following alabama s hiring of head coach nick saban, had coached lsu national championship; many media outlets dubbed 2007 meeting saban bowl. alabama leads series 9–3 in games played far during saban bowl era.

in 2011 regular season matchup, no. 1 lsu beat no. 2 alabama 9–6 in overtime @ bryant–denny stadium in tuscaloosa, on november 5. later, during 2011 post season, 2 selected bowl championship series play each other again in 2012 bcs national championship game, first time since 1986 2 teams played in location other baton rouge or tuscaloosa. alabama won game 21–0. rematch first bcs championship game feature 2 teams same conference (as same division), , first shutout of bcs bowl game in bcs s 14-year history.