For the fourth time this season, the No. 14 LSU football team will go toe-to-toe with a team that has spent a significant amount of time in the top 5.
The Tigers hosted Mississippi State in a game that kick started the Bulldogs’ historic run to the top spot in the nation. They went to Auburn where they got destroyed by quarterback Nick Marshall before flipping the script and winning three straight, the last against then-No. 3 Ole Miss.
But while playing top-tier opponents is nothing new for LSU, there’s nothing ordinary about this week. This week is different. This week is special. This week, the Tigers take on No. 4 Alabama at 7 p.m. Saturday in Tiger Stadium.
“This is what you come to LSU for,” said junior cornerback Jalen Mills. “That’s why those guys went to Alabama, the LSU-Alabama game. You know it’s coming around this time every year, and it’s something you build yourself up to.”
The Tigers (7-2, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) have been unable to defeat Alabama (7-1, 4-1 SEC) in their last three meetings with the Tide — a streak they want ended this Saturday in their last home game of the season.
“We’re going to try to beat this team to the best of our abilities,” said senior center Elliott Porter. “This is why we work hard. It’s why we run in the summer time. It’s why we lift in the summer time. We do it all for games like this. That’s why you sign here at LSU. Everybody came to play at LSU for games like this.”
For LSU’s seniors, Saturday night marks their last game in Tiger Stadium and a final chance to defeat Alabama since the first time they faced the Crimson Tide in a game monikered “The Game of the Century” in 2011.
The Tigers were only able to celebrate the victory for two months before Alabama delivered a crushing 21-0 defeat in a rematch for the BCS National Championship.
Since then, the Crimson Tide has had LSU’s number. Alabama defeated the Tigers, 21-17, with a last minute touchdown the last time the two programs played at Tiger Stadium in 2012, and won a 38-17 contest last season in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
“We know that they took something from us, and we know that we haven’t beaten these guys in our last three meetings,” said senior safety Ronald Martin. “We’re going to have a chip on our shoulder. We’re going to have to come to play. We’re going to have come to practice ready to practice, and we’re going to have to be prepared because those guys are going to give their all. We just have to do the same thing.”
For LSU to finally overcome Alabama, every player at every position will have to leave it all on the field, Martin said. Few Tigers personify this attitude better than senior linebacker D.J. Welter.
Welter began the season as LSU’s starting middle linebacker, but he’s seen limited minutes on defense because of the emergence of sophomore linebacker Kendell Beckwith. As a result, Welter spends most of his time on the field playing on special teams.
But that’s not going to keep him from doing what he can to bookend his LSU career with wins against Alabama on his senior night.
“I’m just enjoying it every day. It’s my last year here being an LSU Tiger,” Welter said. “It’s my last couple games I’ll get to do that. I’ll always be a Tiger, but people always say they wish they could go back, so I definitely want to leave it all out there.”
LSU’s underclassmen have rallied around the seniors, said sophomore wide receiver Travin Dural, but they’re playing for something of their own: their first win against Alabama.
“A game like this, you really want to win it,” Dural said. “The way our season’s gone, we need this win. It’s a big pride thing. Nobody ever really wants to lose, but especially to Alabama … This week everyone is tuned in and locked in. There wasn’t as much joking in practice. Everyone was a lot more serious.”
Saturday’s contest is about more than senior night, it’s about more than post-season implications, and it’s even about more than the numbers in the wins and losses columns after it’s all said and done. For LSU, this Saturday is about beating Alabama.
“Last one in Tiger Stadium, it’s special to me,” Porter said. “It’s special for the the rest of the seniors. It’s special for the rest of the team and it’s special for the state. We want to fight hard that day.”
You can reach Tyler Nunez on Twitter @Nunez_TDR.