BATON ROUGE — When it comes to LSU football, there’s nothing like a Saturday Night in Tiger Stadium. There’s just something about night football that seems to bring out the best in the Tigers.
Playing homes games in Tiger Stadium has always been an advantage for the Tigers, but let the sun go down and it becomes an ever bigger plus for the home team. And that’s not just talk, but words that are backed up by facts. This decade alone, LSU is 52-8 overall in Tiger Stadium with 41 of those wins and just four of those defeats coming at night.
LSU goes into the Tulane game having won 28 consecutive Saturday night games in Death Valley.
LSU’s success in home night games is so prominent that ESPN analyst Beano Cook has been quoted as saying, “Dracula and LSU football are at their best after the sun goes down.”
Night football games in Tiger Stadium have even drawn comparisons to other venues and events outside the world of college football.
ESPN.com’s columnist Pat Forde wrote during the summer of 2008 as Tiger Woods sank a putt to force a playoff at the U.S. Open, ”(Tiger) Woods pumped both fists and yelled, as jacked as you’ll ever see him. But the crowd explosion drowned out whatever was coming out of his mouth. It was the closest golf has ever come to sounding like fourth-and-goal at LSU’s Tiger Stadium on a Saturday night.”
It’s that enthusiasm and spirit of the Tiger Stadium crowd that has helped carry the Tigers to the 28 straight wins at home, seven of which have come when LSU trailed in the fourth quarter.
LSU will go after No. 29 in a row this week when the Tigers host rival Tulane in a non-conference contest at 7 p.m. LSU brings a 5-2 overall mark into the game, with two of the five Tiger victories this year coming in home night games. Tulane is 2-5 overall and hasn’t won in Baton Rouge since 1983.
LSU’s streak of consecutive Saturday night wins in Tiger Stadium goes back to the 2002 season when the Tigers used a fourth quarter rally to beat Ole Miss, 14-13.
Counting the victory over the Rebels in 2002 under the lights, LSU’s record in Saturday night games in Tiger Stadium over the past six-plus seasons is unblemished, as in 28-0. LSU coach Les Miles has never lost a Saturday night home game, going 17-0 in those contests with the Tigers.
And before you go thinking that most of the Saturday night wins in Tiger Stadium have come against lesser opponents, think again. Of the 17 night wins that Miles has been a part of in Tiger Stadium, eighth have come against Southeastern Conference opponents with a ninth game coming against top 10 power Virginia Tech. The streak also includes wins over Arizona and Fresno State.
LSU did lose a night game under Miles, falling to Tennessee, 30-27, in overtime, however that game came on Monday night after the contest was postponed two days due to Hurricane Rita in 2005.
The last time LSU dropped a Saturday night game at home came back in 2002 when Alabama, behind running back Shaud Williams, posted a 31-0 win over the Tigers.
Last year, after the Tigers, behind the gutsy play calling of Miles, knocked off Florida, 28-24, ESPN.com called Tiger Stadium, “the scariest place to play in America.”
After playing only two night games in Death Valley since November of last year, come the Tulane contest, it will be nice to be back enjoying a Saturday night game under the lights in Tiger Stadium.
The following is a look at LSU’s current 28-game winning streak in Saturday night games in Tiger Stadium:
CONSECUTIVE SATURDAY NIGHT WINS
2002
1. def. Ole Miss, 14-13 (7:42 p.m.)
2003
2. def. UL-Monroe 49-7 (7 p.m.)
3. def. Western Illinois 35-7 (7 p.m.)
4. def. Auburn 31-7 (7:05 p.m.)
5. def. Louisiana Tech 49-10 (7 p.m.)
2004
6. def. Oregon State 22-21 OT (5:54 p.m.)
7. def. Arkansas State 53-3 (7 p.m.)
8. def. Troy 24-20 (7 p.m.)
9. def. Vanderbilt 24-7 (7 p.m.)
10. def. Alabama 26-10 (6:47 p.m.)
11. def. Ole Miss 27-24 (7 p.m.)
2005
12. def. Auburn 20-17 OT (6:47 p.m.)
13. def. North Texas 56-3 (7 p.m.)
14. def. Appalachian State 24-0 (7 p.m.)
2006
15. def. UL-Lafayette 45-3 (7 p.m.)
16. def. Arizona 45-3 (5:32 p.m.)
17. def. Tulane 49-7 (7 p.m.)
18. def. Kentucky 49-0 (7 p.m.)
19. def. Fresno State 38-6 (8:16 p.m.)
20. def. Alabama 28-14 (6:47 p.m.)
21. def. Ole Miss 23-20, OT (7 p.m.)
2007
22. def. Virginia Tech 48-7 (8:15 p.m.)
23. def. Middle Tennessee 44-0 (7 p.m.)
24. def. Florida, 28-24 (7:28 p.m.)
25. def. Auburn, 30-24 (8:10 p.m.)
26. def. Louisiana Tech, 58-10 (7 p.m.)
2008
27. def. North Texas 41-3 (7 p.m.)
28. def. Mississippi State, 34-24 (6:36 p.m)