The matchup you've all been waiting for

BATON ROUGE, La. | The chorus began to rise from the student section at Tiger Stadium two weeks ago almost as soon as the last second ticked off the clock.

The steady chant from the north end zone wasn’t a taunt at the Auburn team LSU had just vanquished with a last-second touchdown pass, nor was it a proclamation that LSU deserved to be No. 1.

“We want Saban,” the battle cry went, punctuated by rhythmic clapping. “We want Saban!”

The object of the LSU fans’ attention, Nick Saban, coached the Tigers to the 2003 BCS national championship and is now entering his ninth game as head coach at the University of Alabama. Even though he works at a campus 350 miles away, Saban stands today as arguably the most controversial and divisive figure in the state of Louisiana.

And while most of the LSU faithful would probably like to hang Saban from the nearest cypress tree, some would still rather have him coaching their team.

LSU’s past and the Crimson Tide’s football future collide today at Bryant-Denny Stadium, when the third-ranked Tigers visit No. 17 Alabama. For many LSU supporters, there’s a lot more riding on this game than first place in the Southeastern Conference standings.

“I know it’s the talk of the town,” LSU quarterback Matt Flynn said.

It has been for a long time.

The countdown begins

Saban became public enemy No. 1 in the eyes of much of the LSU nation on Jan. 4, the day he was officially introduced as Alabama’s new coach after leaving the Miami Dolphins of the NFL. That’s the day Drew Murrell conceived the Web site geauxtohellsaban.com.

“I registered it the day after the Sugar Bowl, known as the day Nick Saban went to Alabama,” Murrell said.

LSU drubbed Notre Dame 41-14 in New Orleans on Jan. 3, the day word began to break that Saban was accepting Alabama’s multi-million dollar offer. LSU players, many of whom had been recruited by and played for Saban when he was at the school from 2000-2004, learned about it over game-day breakfast.

“It was crazy,” senior defensive end Kriston Pittman said. “A lot of people said, ‘Why would he go back to the SEC or not go back to LSU?’

“It was a bittersweet moment at the time. I was a little uneasy about it. It made a lot of people uneasy.”

Murrell’s Web site, devoted to anti-Saban humor and venom, began a countdown to today’s game the moment it became operational.

“It’s all humor,” he said. “It’s all in fun.”

Tiger Mania!, a shop that sells LSU merchandise and memorabilia, printed four different editions of shirts mocking Saban before the season and sold out lot after lot. By Tuesday afternoon, only a handful remained.

“We probably get 10 to 15 people a day [seeking anti-Saban items] since the beginning of football season,” said Brad Richard, who works at the store. “It’s all been building to this weekend.”

Even Skip Bertman, LSU’s athletics director, understands the ire of the Tiger faithful.

“I think it’s a fan issue,” he said. “It is a media issue. I don’t think it’s a coaching or football issue.

“The fans and certain people in coaching feel you can’t go back into the conference and compete against the school that made you famous. I think that’s what the spat is all about.”

It may have started that way, but over the months the ill feelings toward Saban have taken on a life of their own.

Jilted lover syndrome

Bill Bankston has a unique take on the situation. Not only is he a lifelong LSU fan, he’s been a sociology professor at the school since the 1970s, devoting his career to the study and teaching of society, social institutions and social relationships. He believes the LSU Nation’s obsession with Saban has gotten personal.

“Everybody has kind of a jilted lover syndrome,” Bankston said. “They feel some animosity, not necessarily in a bad sense, so it gives it some extra flavor.

“I can’t think of something similar to it. Everybody would like to beat him.”

Murrell agrees with Bankston’s analysis.

“There’s a lot of hurt stepbrother syndrome,” he said. “Basically it’s venting some frustration. I know a lot of our fans are hurt by it.”

While LSU supporters may have initially felt jilted, incidents in the months following Saban’s arrival at Alabama have turned their feelings to outrage.

Many took offense when Saban pointed out in his introductory press conference at Alabama that he was the one responsible for bringing to LSU most of the players who stood out in the Sugar Bowl victory.

“I thought that was pretty tasteless,” Murrell said. “Not only did he [take the job] on the day we won the Sugar Bowl, he took credit for our players winning the game.”

Days later, reports surfaced that Saban has used the word “coonass,” which some consider a derogatory term for Cajuns, when relating a story to Florida reporters about an LSU fan irate over his hiring at Alabama. Saban apologized, but some in Louisiana were offended.

The stakes rose on the recruiting trail, where Saban and his Alabama coaching staff went head to head with his LSU successor, Les Miles, in trying to lure some top prospects in Louisiana. Miles made it known that the Tide had risen to the top of his hit list at a public national signing day party in February, where he announced: “We have a new rival in [expletive deleted] Alabama.”

Just how seriously some LSU fans have taken that rivalry was illustrated by a story Saban told in July at SEC Media Days about how one of his administrative assistants who used to work with him at LSU had her tires slashed when she returned to Baton Rouge for a wedding.

“I think we’re aware of the backlash, live it every day,” Saban said.

As today’s showdown has drawn closer, that backlash has grown to permeate all areas of life around the LSU campus.

Political football

Steve Carter, a former LSU tennis coach and associate athletic director, knows football and politics are prime sources of entertainment in Louisiana, and not necessarily in that order. Carter tapped into the anti-Saban fervor in his campaign for state representative, producing signs proclaiming, ‘Beat Bama’ in bold letters. The ploy worked well enough to get Carter into a runoff later this month.

“It’s the hottest item of all time,” Carter said. “Everybody wanted one. We ran out and had to get some smaller ones printed.

“That was just a catchy deal because there was so much conversation and publicity about Saban going there. It’s a gimmick. It worked out well for us.”

Paul Dietzel has experienced first hand just how fickle LSU fans can be. Dietzel coached LSU to the 1958 national title, then left for Army after three more successful seasons. He accepted the job as head coach at South Carolina a few years later.

“Guess who my opening game is?” he said.

Dietzel, now an 82-year-old retiree residing in Baton Rouge, wasn’t greeted as a favorite son when he returned to play LSU in his first game as South Carolina’s coach.

“A lot of people were upset with me leaving,” he said. “There was a lot of consternation. I had been on the other side of that field a long time.

“You did see these signs around and they had bumper stickers. LSU tried to tone it down. It was really quite a thing.”

Brandon Landry, a former LSU basketball player, is co-owner of Walk-On’s Bistreaux and Bar, an establishment that opened near campus a few months before Saban led LSU to the 2003 national title.

“It was great for us,” Landry said. “If LSU is doing well the economy is doing well, hotels and restaurants are doing well. We’ve got a lot of reasons to thank Nick for what he’s done here.”

That sentiment wasn’t lasting. While photos and murals of LSU players and coaches past and present adorn the walls at Walk-On’s, Saban’s image is nowhere to be found. A framed photo of Saban hoisting the crystal national championship trophy was removed shortly after he took the Alabama job.

“We put a sign on it that said, ‘Please do not punch this picture.’ We ended up taking it down. There are some mixed feelings around here,” Landry said.

Those feelings extend to LSU fans’ regard for their current coach.

Saban’s long shadow

Miles has coached in Saban’s shadow since he took over after Saban left following the 2004 season for a two-year stint with the Dolphins.

Steve Spurrier, South Carolina’s coach, took the opportunity to needle Miles before his Gamecocks played LSU in September, crediting Saban for building the program Miles inherited.

“So they’ve got a big-time football program at LSU and again, give Nick Saban credit,” Spurrier said.

“I told Les Miles when he got that job he got the best job ever in the history of college football,” Spurrier continued, listing the high rankings of Saban’s recruiting classes.

In fact, 20 players who have started for LSU this season were recruited by Saban, including 10 of 11 on the Tigers’ nationally ranked defense. Of 63 players listed on LSU’s offensive and defensive depth charts, 21 were brought to the school by Saban.

Saban was the driving force behind LSU’s construction of the building where Miles and his coaches now work, as well as the school’s athletic academic center.

“I appreciate Coach Saban’s past and him passing through Louisiana, and I certainly respect what he was able to accomplish here, but we look to go forward from there,” Miles said Monday at his game-week press conference.

“There’s no his players, our players. It’s LSU.”

Those players, on the other hand, acknowledge Saban’s role in the program’s success.

“He built this facility and brought a lot of the players in and put a lot of people in the NFL,” said Pittman, the defensive end.

Said senior safety Craig Steltz, another Saban recruit, “He definitely built this program up a little bit and had some great players here. I think Coach Saban did start something here and start a great tradition, but Coach Miles has definitely taken it and run with it.”

Miles’ boss doesn’t deny the coach has had a tough time winning over the faithful. Bertman points to a game in Miles’ first season — played under trying circumstances in the wake of Hurricane Katrina — where LSU blew a 21-point lead in the second half to lose to Tennessee.

“Les Miles takes over and has a large portion of people returning from the year before and great expectations,” Bertman said. “That was a problem. They wouldn’t forgive him, the fans. The people don’t forgive him for Tennessee.”

At the same time, few have forgiven Saban for leaving. More precisely, they haven’t forgiven him for coming back to coach at a rival school.

“I think Nick’s a good coach,” said Sheila Barbera, a 55-year-old LSU supporter from Napoleonville, La. “I think he did a good job when he was at LSU, wish he had never left, but I hope the Tigers beat him good.

“I guess he did what he thought was best for his family, but do I like him as much as I used to? No.”

Said Mike Harrison, a 21-year-old junior business major from Lafayette, “I think he did a lot for our program. The only reason people around here hate him is because he’s at Alabama and he’s going to build them and they’ll probably eventually beat us.

“I don’t hate him at all. I do think he should have stayed. We’d have been a lot stronger team, but I like Les. They’re doing well with Les.”

A referendum

If Tiger fans like Miles, they loved Saban when he was at LSU.

“Nick was a god here, just like I’m sure he is in Tuscaloosa,” Landry said.

In fact, the co-owner of the establishment that hosts Miles’ weekly radio show believes a great number of LSU fans secretly would rather have Saban than their current coach.

“If you have them truth serum? Probably 50 percent,” Landry said. “When he was in Miami, it was 90 percent.

“In the back of their minds, they’re thinking, ‘I want to beat his [fanny] now because he left us,’ but on the other hand, ‘I wish he was on the sideline again wearing purple and gold.’”

From an LSU perspective this game is seen by many as a referendum on Miles’ fitness to serve as head coach. Or perhaps it’s his fitness as Saban’s successor that’s being judged. Miles grasps the idea that he will be measured by this game.

“I certainly understand the interest of a former coach and I think that’s natural,” he said.

LSU players regard the way their fans have turned on Saban as a show of support for the program, but don’t like the fact that this game will weigh so heavily in those same fans’ assessment of Miles.

“That’s not fair,” said Flynn, the quarterback. “This is one game. Coach Miles has won a lot of games and made some big calls.

“It’s not fair to put all that on one game.”

Maybe not, but Dietzel believes LSU fans are looking at it all wrong.

“When you stop to think about it,” the former coach said, “when Nick Saban went to the Dolphins, was LSU better after he left here than before he got here? The answer is obvious.

“If you want to make a judgment, that’s what you have to make it on.”

Reach Tommy Deas at tommy.deas@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0224.