End of an annual rivalry, snapshots from Alabama football vs LSU

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A sea of crimson and white covered University Boulevard. That was never going to change ahead of Alabama football vs. LSU. The inflatable elephants and the occasional “Roll Tide” were never going to change either

The only things pointing directly to LSU were a smattering of purple and gold-clad fans and a sheet hanging from outside a University Boulevard house saying “(Brian) Kelly rolls out. Tide rolls in.” 

Alabama-LSU was just another game, a normal game atmosphere around Bryant-Denny Stadium. And for a rivalry that has carried weight and an annual rivalry nearing its end, that proved to be abnormal. 

Starting in 2026, Alabama will face Auburn, Tennessee and Mississippi State each season with the SEC’s new scheduling format. The Alabama-LSU game that has been played yearly since 1964 will not be played in 2027. Tuscaloosa will not see another LSU gameday until 2028. 

Here are the stories of Alabama’s last annual rivalry game vs. LSU, one that ended in a 20-9 Alabama win. 

Tuscaloosa Amtrak Station: 4:02 p.m. CT, Friday, Nov. 7

It had once been “Mardi Gras on a train,” a $40, six-hour excuse to party as an Amtrak train traversed the south from New Orleans to Tuscaloosa. 

In the past, two train cars had overflowed with LSU fans traveling to watch the Tigers at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Even two years ago, one car was full. 

“Now, it’s just seven guys,” said Richard Miller, a Baton Rouge native, LSU graduate and Tigers football season ticketholder. “Some of the allure … it’s been lost.” 

Miller is the first to admit it. Much of it is LSU’s fault. 

Ranked No. 9 in the preseason, LSU had lost three of its last four games before playing Alabama, all against ranked SEC opponents. Brian Kelly, LSU’s coach at the start of the 2025 season, was fired. So was athletics director Scott Woodward. 

With a new university president and a state governor who has “stuck his nose in,” Miller said, LSU is looking to start the next phase of its football program. 

“If I was a coach, outside looking in, I’d take two or three hard looks unless I can be reassured,” Miller said of candidates to fill the vacancy. 

Miller could not pass up the opportunity. He had to be on the train, joining a group that had made it a tradition for the past 20 years. And he had to help make it as much of a Mardi Gras atmosphere as he could. 

“We had to be told to turn the volume down on the speakers,” Miller said. “Just maybe once or twice.”

Waysider Restaurant: 7:49 a.m., CT, Saturday, Nov. 8

A group of Alabama fans, one bold patron in an LSU hoodie and a few stragglers in Georgia Tech and Illinois gear stood outside Waysider Restaurant on an otherwise sleepy Tuscaloosa morning. There’s a 20-minute wait that will only grow. 

Chris Kelley sat on a curb with his son, Graysen. Chris is a Reform, Alabama, native, a self-described “dirt road alum” who didn’t attend the University of Alabama but who has cheered for the Crimson Tide his whole life. 

And Chris’ son wanted to see Alabama-LSU for his first game at Bryant-Denny Stadium. 

Greyson earned the game trip by making honor roll at school. He just finished his football season as an offensive lineman and safety.

Chris admits he “spent a little more money than we had budgeted,” but says it was worth it.

“(Greyson) said, ‘It’s going to be a while until we see this game again,’” Chris Kelley said. 

To Chris, it’s a “shame” that Alabama-LSU won’t be an annual rivalry, at least for the next four years. He’s seen it from both sides: attending games as a season-ticket holder while stationed for the military in Columbus, Mississippi, even seeing a few games in Baton Rouge. 

Chris knows how big Alabama-LSU can be.

“It’s more important, to me anyway, than Tennessee and just right below Auburn,” he said. 

Bryant-Denny Stadium: 10:19 p.m. CT, Saturday, Nov. 8

Kalen DeBoer knew what Alabama would see in this LSU team, in any LSU team. He understood what Alabama was up against.

It was a rivalry game.

“That’s the way we treated it,” DeBoer said.

It’s how Alabama linebacker Deontae Lawson has always seen Alabama-LSU. It’s the game he grew up watching as an annual primetime network TV staple, the game he dreamt of playing in.

It didn’t matter where LSU stood. It lived up to Lawson’s expectation.

“Yeah, it felt like a rivalry game for sure,” Lawson said. “It’s always a big game, for sure, when we’re in it.”

Jackie’s Lounge: 12:33 a.m. CT, Sunday, Nov. 9

Jackie’s Lounge, a smoke-filled haven less than a mile from Bryant-Denny Stadium and one mile from that sea of crimson and white returning to University Boulevard, is packed.

No purple and gold was in sight. The only evidence that a game had happened earlier were college students still donning buttons and pom-poms hanging from pockets and purses as drinks flowed, darts were thrown and pool was shot.

There was no extra celebration, no extra jubilee for this win against LSU. It was just another win at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Just another win for the Crimson Tide.

With the new day came a shifted focus, one shared by the football team that had played a few hours earlier. It’s onto what’s next. It’s onto Oklahoma. And it’s about plans to do it all again next week.

It was normal, something Alabama-LSU was not exactly known for.

Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Snapshots from final Alabama football vs LSU annual rivalry game

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