(Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
BATON ROUGE, La. — Some college football fans wear suits, ties and sundresses to games. Others shake pom poms. And in certain parts of the country, fans tailgate with fine china.
Not at LSU.
“It’s a real working man’s kind of crowd,” Jacob Hester, who played fullback at LSU from 2004-07, told For The Win. “You have people from every background and they’re there to watch football and cheer. They’re not there to be seen.”
The people who file into Death Valley every Saturday play a crucial role in making it the most intimidating place to play in sports, and it’s always been this way. But why? Clemson’s Memorial Stadium bears the same nickname, a lot of college football stadiums are loud, and other venues in sports are rowdy.
LSU fans celebrate after knocking off Ole Miss (AP)
So what makes Tiger Stadium different?
“All of them Cajuns,” said Marcus Spears, who played defensive end at LSU from 2001-04. “This state, we have New Orleans, we have Baton Rouge, an extension of New Orleans. It’s hospitality, it’s partying, it’s a family reunion every single weekend.
“It’s just the fabric and the culture in the state of Louisiana that when it’s time to have a good time, we’re gonna go 10 decibels higher than anybody else. We literally know how to party harder and louder than anybody else.”
Two weeks ago, LSU didn’t appear as newsworthy with two losses and a then-No. 3 Ole Miss coming to town. But the Tigers ended up winning 10-7. Coach Les Miles said this week that was the loudest game he can remember since beating Tim Tebow’s Florida in 2007. After the game, Rebels quarterback Bo Wallace admitted the stadium affected him.
“It’s a crazy atmosphere,” he said. “This is the craziest place I’ve played. Actually, it (the noise) did factor (into third-down plays).”
Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace (AP)
In his 10th year as the Tigers’ coach, Miles is 46-3 on Saturday nights in Death Valley. And the place is even louder in 2014 with a new addition to the South end zone, setting the capacity at 102,321.
“One thing that’s different is some college students have maybe gotten too sophisticated to jump up and down and cheer for the team,” said Sam Nader, LSU’s director of football operations, who has been part of the program for 39 years. “Not here.”
Saturday night, No. 4 Alabama will come to Death Valley in what is a crucial game for the Crimson Tide as they wind through the SEC West. Nick Saban, who coached at LSU from 2000-04, is one of three coaches who have beat Miles in Death Valley at night. A win would make him the only one to do it twice.
Les Miles and Nick Saban (USA TODAY Sports)
“It’s kind of easy to have a good feel for (the atmosphere) and a good perspective on it because I’ve been on both sides of the fence,” Saban said.
“We certainly have a tremendous amount of respect for what you have to do to go in there and stay focused and not get caught up in all the emotion that is something that is really special in the environment in that stadium, to be able to stay focused on what you need to do to play well.”
Hester scored the winning touchdown in one of the most famous games played in Tiger Stadium history in 2007 when No. 1 LSU overcame a 10-point fourth quarter deficit to beat reigning national champion No. 9 Florida. There was a record 92,910 fans in attendance.
“The electricity in the stadium that night, I don’t know if it can ever be duplicated,” Hester said. “So many things that went into that game. Florida was one of the best teams in the country, they had the whole Tim Tebow show, and then they announced during the game—because we were No. 1 in one poll and USC was No. 1 in the other—and during the third quarter they announced that USC had lost to Stanford so the whole place goes nuts.”
Les Miles celebrates a Tigers’ victory with his players. (USA TODAY Sports)
There was also the famous “Earthquake game” in 1988 when Tiger Stadium was so loud for LSU-Auburn that it registered as an earthquake on the seismograph located in LSU’s geoscience complex.
Tommy Hodson, the Tigers’ quarterback who found tailback Eddie Fuller for the game’s only touchdown in the fourth quarter for the 7-6 victory, described the sound of the stadium the moment it erupted.
“You can’t hear yourself,” he said. “If you were standing next to someone, you wouldn’t be able to hear them speak. You could only see their mouth moving.”
Earlier this week, Miles smiled while reminiscing about taking the field in Death Valley for the first time in 2005. His feelings toward the place haven’t changed.
“It absolutely warmed my heart when I took the field,” he said Wednesday. “It’s always been an honor of mine as a head coach to do that.
“This is a special place.”
