When the LSU schedule was released last year, one date was circled on everyone’s calendar — November 8.To LSU fans, coaches and players that date meant more than just the ninth game of the season, but rather, Nov. 8 was the date Nick Saban returned to Baton Rouge.The history is thick and has almost become a myth on LSU’s campus.After the 2004 season, Saban bolted LSU to go to the Miami Dolphins.That’s not a big deal, right? Coaches leave their schools every year to accept positions everywhere.But it was different here.Saban was not a part of LSU football. He was LSU football.He took a program that was uprooted in mediocrity in the 1990s and won two Southeastern Conference Championships and the school’s first national championship in 45 years.He took a program that was once stomped on regularly by the powerhouses like Florida and Tennessee and turned them into the team doing the stomping.But players were proud of their former coach and the LSU faithful approved of Saban’s “step-up” in the career ladder.And the fans took the break-up well too, and Saban was even cheered by fans in Tiger Stadium when the Dolphins played a game in Baton Rouge (because of Hurricane Katrina) against the New Orleans Saints.But then two years later, that love quickly turned into hate when “it” happened.Saban, despite repeatedly saying he was not interested, accepted a lucrative deal to be the leader of the Alabama Crimson Tide, immediately making a man who was once the hero in everyone’s eyes in Louisiana into an instant traitor and an instant villain.How could Saban, who once seemed forever cemented in LSU history, return to the college game and go with one of LSU’s most heated rivals?But step outside of the fan’s perspective for a moment, and it’s easy to see why this game is also critical to the guys inside each locker room.The Alabama seniors have never beaten LSU.The LSU seniors have never lost to Alabama.With Alabama struggling nationally the past few seasons, LSU has been able to control this rivalry and has won seven of the past eight meetings.But this season, LSU is the team that is on the ropes and has lost a pair of games by double digits, while Alabama is undefeated and No. 1 in the country.What better way is there for LSU to show it’s not as bad as its record indicates than to take the No. 1 team in the country to the woodshed for the sixth-straight time and to send their former coach running from Baton Rouge with a loss in his hip pocket?What better way is there for Alabama to show it’s legit nationally than to defeat a team it hasn’t since 2002 and to win in the most rowdy atmosphere the Crimson Tide will see all year?Add to it all that ESPN’s College GameDay will be on campus, and it’s the icing on the cake for what figures to be an electric weekend in Baton Rouge.LSU is 5-1 when GameDay is on campus, and fans hungry to get a quick zinger on Alabama will be anxious to see whether Lee Corso sports a tiger’s head or an elephant’s head.And LSU seems to play its best football when everyone in the world is watching. Remember LSU’s 48-7 win against Virginia Tech last season when GameDay was on campus?How about when GameDay was in Tuscaloosa, Ala., in 2005, and LSU stormed into the Crimson Tide’s home and walked away with an overtime win over then-unbeaten Alabama.People here are hoping for an encore performance, but I guess we’ll have to wait until Saturday to find out for certain.So bring your earplugs and your party hats, GameDay, because this is not just a regular game in Baton Rouge.This one means more.This article can also be viewed at www.collegegameday.com.