The 19th-ranked LSU Tigers will travel to Tuscaloosa on Saturday to take on No. 1 Alabama in what will be the series’ 12th-straight top-20 match-up.
It’s a series that hasn’t seen an LSU win since the 9-6 victory in the “Game of the Century” in 2011, a stat that comes to haunt LSU fans every first weekend of November. 
“[It’s a] very important game for the state of Louisiana,” LSU Head Coach Ed Orgeron said. “Very important game to our fans, very important game to our alumni. It’s a very important game for our football team.” 
As a Louisiana native, Orgeron knows how much this means to the people of his state, and recognizes that the future of a program and how fast a coach can rebuild it can hinge on nights like the one this upcoming weekend.
“I think this is huge for us in recruiting,” Orgeron said. “It’s huge because they have won the SEC, they have won National Championships. They’re on top of the world right now. This is the benchmark.” 
As optimistic as LSU fans may be for Saturday’s game, the odds-makers are expecting a more ominous night for Orgeron and Co., currently slating the Tigers as 21.5-point underdogs.
Orgeron made it clear that neither he nor his team will be distracted by the outside noise.
“That doesn’t mean anything to us,” Orgeron said. “It’s why you play the game. You never can tell. We’re going in with a mindset that we’re going to win a football game.
“We’re getting on that plane to go win a football game. That’s going to be our attitude.”