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Before this you’d have to go back to 1979 against Virginia (not counting a 27-0 loss to UF in Jacksonville in 1984). Scoring is so sky-high in college football nowadays that shutouts are rare. The last time LSU beat Alabama was on November 5, 2011, when the Tigers were the No. 1 team in the country. Build your custom FanSided Daily email newsletter with news and analysis on FanSided.com and all your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and more.
We don’t have to reach too far back in the memory bank for this one. Georgia ran over the Vols 41-0 last season, Tennessee’s second-worst loss in series history. Again, a team was shut out at home during a coach’s farewell tour, this time Butch Jones. Would you believe this is in the middle of another season under a coach on the way out?
The Tigers Hunt at Night: LSU's History After Sunset
Versatile backup Charles Turner also could play after a two-game absence. The first-year offensive staff should improve with experience. The coaches have emphasized pad level and aggressiveness this week, trying to help the players knock defenders off the line of scrimmage. NIU lost two “home” games that were played at Soldier Field in 2011 and 2012. So South Carolina claims those ended the streak for NIU even though the games weren’t on campus. Northern Illinois hasn’t played a ranked team at home since 2003, when it beat No. 15 Maryland in the season opener.
Losing to Oregon, a playoff contender at this point isn’t an eliminator, but the margin of error has been drastically reduced. Ryan Day’s team has to run the table the rest of the season, which is certainly possible, to have a shot at earning a spot in the four-team field. Ohio State lost to Oregon on Saturday in a game they never could command. The Ducks controlled the ground game with a physical offensive line and great running from CJ Verdell.
When is the last time LSU lost on a Saturday night at home?
No. 2 Alabama currently owns a six-game winning streak against LSU as the Crimson Tide hosts the No. 19 Tigers Saturday night in Tuscaloosa. The hope was that a night game would attract the people of Louisiana who would be finished with their work on their plantations and refineries. Many couldn't attend afternoon games, but they could easily make it to evening games. Kickoff provided a way for blue collar workers in Baton Rouge to kick back and relax while taking in some college football. The idea not only paved the way for the Tulane Green Wave football game but an opportunity for more fans to attend home games.
Before that it was in 2012, when No. 13 South Carolina came to town and walked away with a win. Alabama was ranked No. 1 and steamrolled the Razorbacks, 52-0, in John Smith’s final season as Arkansas coach. Just to prove it was no fluke, Alabama hosted Arkansas the following season, again ranked No. 1, and trounced Bret Bielema’s Hogs by the exact same score. The two teams met twice as the top-ranked teams in the country during the 2011 season. No. 1 LSU beat No. 2 Alabama 9-6 on Nov. 5, then Alabama won 21-0 in the BCS National Championship Game.
When was the last time LSU beat Alabama?
In 24 games this season, a team has scored at least 41 points and lost, including four FCS teams facing FBS opposition. A team scoring six touchdowns and losing is nearly three times as common as a team being shut out. Alabama and LSU have met 82 times dating back to 1895, including every year since 1964. Alabama has won 52 of those games, LSU has taken 25 and five have ended in ties. Alabama is riding a seven-game winning streak in the series heading into the 2018 matchup. Head coach Ed Orgeron, who led the team to a national championship with the help of Joe Burrow and Joe Brady, continued that tradition.
During the Les Miles era, the LSU Tigers held home game kickoff at night regularly. If the television schedules made by networks like CBS and ESPN had been letting Miles decide, each home game probably would have been played at 7 p.m. Even though it wasn't a successful tradition initially, it didn't take long to become one of the most famous places to play college football when the sun goes down.
Neither team has won without eclipsing the 100-yard threshold. Even when LSU changed its offensive philosophy in 2019, Clyde Edwards-Helaire sealed a win by rushing for 120 yards in the second half. The Buckeyes’ only two home losses in the last three years both came in 2011, when interim head coach Luke Fickell led the team its first losing season since 1988. The two defeats were to No. 21 Penn State (20-14) and unranked Michigan State (10-7).
This was also the last time the Tigers faced an unranked Alabama team. It’s easy to forget that LSU actually won back-to-back games in this series back in the early goings of Saban’s tenure at Alabama. His team in 2010 was likely the weakest he’s had at Alabama in the final season with Greg McElroy at quarterback, and the Tigers took advantage, handing the Tide its second lost of the season. Before that win in 2019, Alabama had rattled off eight-straight wins in the series. To find the last LSU victory, we have to go back to 2011 when the two teams also met as unbeaten squads in November.
They were selected as National Champions on three additional occasions, though the program does not claim these titles. LSU has won 15 conference championships with 12 being Southeastern Conference championships. LSU has 812 official wins ranking it twelfth all-time for Division I FBS teams. Considering Alabama boasts arguably the two greatest coaches in college football history, it’s easily forgotten that this team was in a pretty bad spot before Saban took over. In 2006, the final season under Mike Shula, the team went 6-7 and lost by two touchdowns to a superior LSU team, which finished the year with an 11-2 record and Sugar Bowl win. Both of these teams entered this game at 8-0, and LSU was in the midst of one of the best seasons for any team in college football history.
The Tigers have been hosting regular-season games in the evening since 1931, first beginning due to scheduling conflicts between other schools and the LSU fans around Baton Rouge. The ‘Bama was a very different program in Saban’s first season in 2007. They finished that year just 7-6 with a loss to Louisana-Monroe. But Alabama showed a glimpse of what it would become in this game, taking the No. 3 team in the country to the wire. After LSU’s final practice this week, Orgeron was asked whether he had seen anything that gave him confidence LSU would have more success running the ball.
While LSU ranks 122nd in the country in rushing yards, Auburn (3-1, 0-0 SEC) averages 257 yards rushing per game. The last time LSU lost at home to an unranked opponent was in 2008 when Ole Miss came to Tiger Stadium and won 31-13. The sole home loss for the Bears in the last three years came in 2012, when unranked TCU strode into town and slapped them with an ugly loss. The Tigers haven’t lost a game to an unranked opponent in Memorial Stadium since 2008 when they fell to Georgia Tech.
We knew the Tigers were good, but this was the night we realized just how good. LSU understands it needs to spark the rushing attack after gaining just 320 yards rushing, which equals 21% of its offensive production. Six Southeastern Conference players — including Auburn running backs Tank Bigsby and Jarquez Hunter — have more yards rushing than LSU’s team. Rohan Davey remembers the last time LSU lost to Auburn at home. He was a redshirt sophomore quarterback that day in 1999, and nothing went well in a 41-7 loss, one of the most lopsided games in the history of the rivalry.
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