As I walked up and down the streets of Baton Rouge Saturday, wearing a T.J. Yeldon jersey, LSU fans taunted, “Tiger bait, Tiger bait, Tiger bait.” In keeping with the passionate rivalry, LSU fans didn’t dare miss an opportunity to heckle the Alabama fans that had traveled to the home place of Death Valley—Baton Rouge. La.
Being in an entirely different game day environment, I found it was interesting to watch the fans of the old rival tailgate. Let’s just say here at Alabama, we are much more reserved.
Being from Philadelphia, trash talk is something I’m used to, so it was no surprise my friends left it up to me to respond to the constant jeering. My favorite and most obvious response is the ever classic “roll tide”—it just says so much. And if that was not enough, there was always, “I have 4 words for you. You lost to Florida.” Yes, I went there.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford a ticket into the game. So, being a poor college student, my friends and I headed to a bar called Serrano’s to watch the game.
Needless to say, the whole bar was filled with Crimson and White: the tide had finally rolled in.
Tiger Stadium is said to be the loudest stadium in college football and the most challenging to compete in because of the atmosphere. And until the very last minute, that seemed dishearteningly true.
After trailing 3-0 at the end of the first quarter, Alabama went into the half up 14-3, scoring two touchdowns in LSU’s red zone in the second quarter. In the third quarter, LSU held Alabama scoreless, and scored a 1-yard touchdown.
With 1:39 in the fourth quarter, the Crimson Tide down 17-14, predicted Heisman Trophy nominee and Alabama quarterback, A.J. McCarron led his team down the field. Five plays and 72 yards later with 51 seconds to go, freshman running back T.J. Yeldon scored.
The Tide had taken control, beating the Tigers 21-17 on LSU’s own turf in Death Valley.
The Crimson Tide will face the Texas A&M Aggies in Tuscaloosa, Ala. on Saturday, Nov. 10, 2012 at 2:30 p.m. central time on CBS.
Sources
http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/tag/_/name/alabama-lsu-2012