Alabama football coach Nick Saban said the improvement shown — or not — in between the first and second scrimmages will play a big part in determining players’ roles for this season.For a couple of Midwestern football players from the 1970s, Les Miles and Nick Saban sure have done their share to shape the Southeastern Conference’s most competitive rivalry of the past decade.
Alabama and LSU will meet Saturday night inside Bryant-Denny Stadium, with Saban’s Crimson Tide ranked No. 7 nationally and Miles’ Tigers at No. 4. It will be the 12th Alabama-LSU game for Miles, a former Michigan offensive lineman who ventured into this showdown in 2005 following a four-year coaching stint at Oklahoma State.
“I did not have a real view of it coming in,” Miles said. “Everybody recognizes the great abilities that Alabama has always had in play with its history and traditions, but what I did find out I enjoyed, and certainly our guys enjoy playing in this rivalry.”
Miles was hired in Baton Rouge to replace Saban, who had revived LSU’s program by going 48-16 from 2000 to ’04, a stretch that included winning the 2003 national championship. Saban went 4-1 against Alabama before his two-year stint as head coach of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, and Miles continued the dominance against the Crimson Tide by prevailing in the 2005, ’06 and ’07 matchups.
Saban, a former Kent State defensive back, returned to the SEC in 2007 to rebuild an Alabama program that was losing annually to LSU and Auburn and had suffered losing seasons in 2000, ’03 and ’06.
“I don’t think anybody was telling me that we needed to beat any specific teams,” Saban said. “I think they were saying that they wanted a better program and to have a chance against some of the better teams in our conference, and certainly LSU has been that for a long time and Auburn has been really good, as well as most of the other teams in our division.
“It was more about consistency and performance and sort of elevating the standard to what the tradition around here was more used to being, and fortunately we’ve been able to do that.”
After losing the 2007 game to LSU’s national championship team, Saban guided the Crimson Tide to victories against the Tigers in 2008 and ’09, with the latter Alabama team winning the national title. Miles responded by leading the Tigers to series wins in 2010 and ’11, when LSU claimed a 9-6 overtime win in Tuscaloosa.
LSU went 13-0 in 2011, winning the SEC title in the process, but Alabama earned a rematch in the BCS national championship game in New Orleans and capitalized with a 21-0 win. It was the first national-title pairing of teams from the same conference.
Alabama has won the past three meetings, giving Saban a 6-3 record against LSU and Miles a 5-6 record against the Tide.
“It’s a Saturday in November that really marks the remainder of the season,” Miles said. “It’s obviously an important game with two very quality opponents who respect each other, and it’s as quality of a football game and event as there is in college football. We recognize what a fortunate opportunity it is for us to play in a rivalry like this.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.