By: Tommy Camp

 

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 8 Alabama Crimson Tide will welcome the No. 13 LSU Tigers to Bryant-Denny Stadium Saturday night in an attempt to avenge their overtime loss on the last play of the game last year.

The rivalry goes back 128 years when the teams first played in Baton Rouge in 1895. Unlike last year’s overtime thriller, this was a 12-6 LSU win. Since the opening match in 1895, these two teams have faced off 86 other times including every year since 1964. Alabama leads the series 55-27-5 all-time.

For this week’s Red Zone Rewind, let’s take a look back at the previous three matchups between the Tigers and the Tide.

 

Top Ten Matchup in Death Valley

Alabama defensive backs Brian Branch (14) Jordan Battle (9) make a tackle against LSU at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, LA on Saturday, Nov 5, 2022.

In 2022, the No. 6 Crimson Tide headed to Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to face the No. 10 LSU Tigers.

The game started with a scoreless first quarter, which was the first time all season that the Tide did not score a point in the first 15 minutes of a game.

Jayden Daniels would eventually open up the scoring with a 30-yard passing touchdown to John Emery Jr., five minutes into the second quarter. The Tide ended the half with two field goals to make the score 7-6 at the half.

Bama would start the second half with their longest drive of the year in terms of plays (15), but it would only result in another Will Reichard field goal. LSU would take advantage of their defensive stops to score yet another touchdown towards the end of the third quarter to take the lead 14-9.

The scoring would ramp up in the fourth quarter as the teams would combine to score 25 points. The teams would exchange scores all quarter to get the score to 32-29 LSU after Jayden Daniels had a go-ahead passing touchdown with 1:47 left on the clock. Alabama would take just 1:26 to march the ball down the field for Reichard’s fourth make to tie the game and send it to overtime.

Alabama got the ball the start in OT and took seven plays for Roydell Williams to run into the endzone and take a seven-point lead with the ball going to LSU. On their first play, Jayden Daniels rushed the ball 25 yards to score before connecting with tight end Mason Taylor on a two-point conversion to win the game.

 

Defensive Masterclass

In 2021, the No. 2 ranked Crimson Tide played host to the Tigers in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

The game started out well offensively for both teams with Alabama going 43 yards on the game’s opening drive but missing a 49-yard field goal. The Tigers would score one of their two touchdowns in the game on their opening drive, with Max Johnson completing an eight-yard pass to Brian Thomas Jr. for the game’s first score.

It would take the Tide until almost halftime to score for the first time. They would first strike with a Brian Robinson touchdown with just under three minutes left in the half. Three plays later, Max Johnson would throw his only interception of the game to give the ball back to Alabama on the 39-yard line.

Bryce Young would go on to throw the ball on five straight plays to hit John Metchie III for an eight-yard touchdown, taking just 33 seconds off the clock.

The start of the second half was almost identical to the end of the first in that LSU fumbled four plays into the half to give Alabama the ball. It would take just two plays for Bryce Young to connect with Jameson Williams on a 58-yard-deep ball to give the Tide a 20-7 lead after Will Reichard missed the extra point.

There would only be one more score for the rest of the game and that came with a little over two minutes left in the third quarter after Max Johnson threw an eight-yard pass to Jack Bech to make the score 20-14.

The rest of the drives in the game would finish with either turnovers or punts. Bryce Young would end up with 308 passing yards this game, however, the entire team would finish with just six rushing yards for the entire game.

 

Bayou Beatdown

In 2020, the No. 1 ranked Crimson Tide headed to Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to face the LSU Tigers.

Alabama started off clicking on offense, scoring a touchdown on their first five possessions, and scoring on every possession they had in the first half.

The first two scores of the game were rushing touchdowns by Najee Harris, followed by a 24-yard passing touchdown from Mac Jones to Jahleel Billingsley to take a 21-0 first-quarter lead.

Alabama would score three more touchdowns and a field goal along with LSU scoring two touchdowns of their own to make the halftime score 45-14 in favor of the Tide. Alabama would finish the first half with 469 yards of total offense.

The second half would see scoring slow down dramatically with Harris scoring his third touchdown of the game and each team adding a field goal to their score. The final score of the game ended up being 55-17 in favor of Alabama. Alabama would finish the game with 650 total yards of offense.

Wide Receiver, DeVonta Smith would finish the game with 231 yards on eight receptions along with three touchdowns. His three scores would extend his SEC and school record of most career-receiving touchdowns to 38 en route to his Heisman trophy.

 

Next Up

Jayden Daniels and the Tigers look to prove that last year’s win was not a fluke by getting their first win in Tuscaloosa since Joe Burrow came marching in. The game will air on CBS and kickoff is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. CDT.