Everything you always wanted to know about LSU-Alabama

• No. 1 Alabama and No. 5 LSU meet at 8 p.m. ET, Saturday in Baton Rouge
• Alabama leads the all-time the series with LSU 46-25-5
• Les Miles is 5-3 against Alabama as a head coach and 3-3 against Nick Saban

BATON ROUGE — Before No. 1 Alabama can try to win back-to-back national championships for the first time since the 1978 and '79 seasons under Bear Bryant, it will have to solve the Curse of the Mad Hatter.

The Crimson Tide (8-0, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) and No. 5 LSU (7-1, 3-1 SEC) meet at 8 p.m. ET, Saturday in Tiger Stadium on CBS. What follows is the ultimate information overload: everything you always wanted to know about LSU-Alabama whether you asked or not.

— Alabama could have hired Les Miles after the 2002 season when it was replacing Dennis Franchione, who left for Texas A&M. At the time, Miles was turning around a downtrodden program at Oklahoma State.

"His name and a few others always came up during that search," said Alabama athletic director Mal Moore, who ended up hiring Mike Price and regretting it big time. Moore had to let Price go months before Price ever coached a game because of Price's alleged behavior with some exotic dancers, then had to settle on Mike Shula. That did not work out either. Shula, clearly not ready for a head coaching job, had two losing seasons and a break-even season in four years.

Finally, Moore ended up with former LSU coach Nick Saban, who was unhappy at Miami in the NFL, for the 2007 season, and the rest is history. Miles stayed at Oklahoma State through 2004, making the Cowboys consistent winners and leaving a lot of players for Mike Gundy. Miles became LSU's coach in 2005.

"I think Les would have done a good job here, sure," Moore said. "He's done an outstanding job at LSU."

Miles also continues to haunt Alabama, which is 3-5 against the Mad Hatter. Miles is 3-3 against Saban. His five wins against Alabama are the most of any coach in LSU history.

Plus, since Saban came to Alabama, no coach other than Miles has beaten him more than once, and Miles has done it three times. In his sixth season at Alabama, Saban has lost 12 games. Nine have come to nine coaches: Georgia's Mark Richt, Florida State's Bobby Bowden, Mississippi State's Sylvester Croom, Louisiana-Monroe's Charlie Weatherbie, Auburn's Tommy Tuberville, Florida's Urban Meyer, Utah's Kyle Whittingham, South Carolina's Steve Spurrier and Auburn's Gene Chizik. The other three were to Miles in 2007, '10 and '11 before the 21-0 loss in the national title game last season.

Miles has a knack for beating Alabama when it is undefeated. His first victory over the Tide ruined a 9-0 start by the Tide. Miles' win over Bama last year soiled an 8-0 opening.

Last year, Miles also became the first coach in a decade to beat Saban in back-to-back regular season games since Spurrier did it in 2000 and 2001 when he was at Florida and Saban was at LSU. Should Miles defeat Saban Saturday, he will become the first coach in 13 years to beat Saban in three straight regular season games. The last coach to do it was Purdue's Joe Tiller from 1997-99 when Saban was Michigan State's coach, and two of those were one-point wins.

— Alabama has a knack for ruining undefeated LSU seasons, too. The Tide did it to 7-0 and 9-0 Tiger teams in 1972 and '73 and to a 7-0-1 LSU team in 1987. But the worst was last season when Bama beat the 13-0 Tigers in the BCS national championship game.

— Alabama leads the series with LSU 46-25-5. The last time LSU led the series was 2-1 after Alabama's first win in 1903 in Tuscaloosa. LSU has not been within double digits since back-to-back wins in 1969-70 to pull within 10-20-4. Then Alabama won 11 straight. LSU has dominated Alabama this century, though, by posting a 9-4 mark with five straight wins from 2003 through 2007. Saban had the first two. Miles had the last three.

— Many LSU fans hated Saban when he left for the NFL one year after winning the 2003 national championship, much like LSU coach Paul Dietzel left three years after winning the 1958 national title. But Saban made it worse when he decided to return to college and chose Alabama after the 2006 season. For it was Saban who had reversed the Red Curse at LSU. From 1971 through 1998, Alabama went 14-0-1 in Tiger Stadium. In Saban's first year in 2000, he defeated Alabama 30-28 and would win at home again in 2004, finishing 4-1 against the Tide for the best winning percentage (.800) of any LSU coach in the series. No previous LSU coach had won more than twice against Alabama.

— LSU is just 1-6 against the No. 1 team in the nation in Tiger Stadium, and two of those losses came to Alabama (27-21 in overtime in 2008 to Saban and 3-0 in 1979 to Bear Bryant). LSU is 2-9-1 overall against No. 1. The only home win was 28-21 over Florida in 1997.

— Miles is 6-3 in games after open dates.

— No. 1 Alabama and No. 5 LSU will be just the fourth top five pairing in Tiger Stadium history. The previous three featured No. 1 LSU beating No. 3 Ole Miss 7-3 in 1959, No. 1 Florida beating No. 4 LSU 13-3 in 2009 and No. 1 LSU beating No. 3 Arkansas 41-17 last year. Saturday's game will be the third straight overall in which both teams are in the top five. In both games last season, LSU was No. 1 to Alabama's No. 2.

— This Alabama-LSU game marks the fifth time since 2005 that both teams are in the top 10.

— Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron leads the SEC and the nation in passing efficiency at 182.4 with 122 completions in 177 attempts for 1,684 yards and 18 touchdowns against zero interceptions. Last year at this time, LSU quarterback Jarrett Lee led the SEC in passing efficiency at 157.4 on 98-of-155 passing for 1,250 yards and 13 touchdowns against one interception.

— LSU is second in the SEC in pass efficiency defense with a 90.4 rating based on 13 interceptions and seven touchdowns allowed. LSU is also second in the SEC in pass defense with 148.5 yards allowed a game. Middle linebacker Kevin Minter is second in the SEC in conference games with 45 tackles and 11.2 a game. He is fifth in sacks with three.

— Alabama is No. 1 in the SEC in scoring defense, rushing defense, pass defense and pass efficiency defense. LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger is 12th in the SEC in passing efficiency at 124.4.

— LSU is third in the SEC in sacks with 23. Alabama is sixth in the SEC in fewest sacks allowed with 17.

— Alabama is second in the SEC in rush offense with 214 yards a game. LSU is second in the SEC in rush defense with 95 yards allowed a game.

— Nick Saban, age 61, is 58-12 (.828) in six years as Alabama's coach with a 37-8 (.822) mark in the SEC. Les Miles, age 58, is 82-19 (.811) in eight years as LSU's coach with a 36-16 (.692) mark in the SEC. Saban has won two national championships at Alabama with one SEC championship and two SEC West titles. Miles has won one national championship at LSU with two SEC championships and three SEC West titles.

— Miles and Saban are deadlocked in head-to-head head coaching matchups 3-3. But the two coaches also met three times as assistants. When Miles was an assistant at Michigan in 1980 and '81, Saban was at Ohio State. They battled on the recruiting trail and on the field. They split two games with Michigan winning the first one 9-3 in Columbus, Ohio, and Ohio State winning the second one, 14-9, in Ann Arbor, Mich. The rubber match for the two as assistant coaches happened in 1987 when Miles was in the first year of his second stint as a Michigan assistant and Saban was in his last year as an assistant at Michigan State. Michigan State won that season, 17-11. So Saban has a 5-4 edge in all coaching matchups with Miles.

— Miles is 36-1 in Saturday night games in Tiger Stadium, but he is only 1-0 in such games against Alabama with a 28-14 win in 2006. Miles and Saban have never coached against one another in a Saturday night game in Tiger Stadium. That happens Saturday night.

Glenn Guilbeau also writes for Gannett Louisiana