• By JEREMY HARPER
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Nov 9, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Two years of anticipation and nearly four hours of Saturday drama ended in heartache for thousands of LSU fans who cheered their Tigers on against former coach turned rival Nick Saban and his Alabama Crimson Tide.

“Heartbreaking,” said LSU freshman Garrett Powell, who, like thousands of others, sat stone-faced and stunned in Tiger Stadium after LSU’s 27-21 overtime loss to No. 1-ranked Alabama.

“This was our national championship,” Powell said. “This made or broke our season.”

With Saban returning to Tiger Stadium for the first time since he took over the Alabama program, the matchup was the game of the year for many fans. Alabama’s undefeated record and No. 1 ranking only added to the drama.

Saban, who led LSU to a national championship in 2003, left LSU for the professional ranks only to return to Southeastern Conference rival Alabama two years later. Many fans still harbor hard feelings about the move.

“Saban is a traitor,” said LSU student Andrew Robertson, a junior from Austin, Texas. “He’s all about the money.”

The fans’ Saban-themed expression started Friday night when dozens of fans burned the former coach’s effigy in the parking lot of a condominium complex near campus.

With an afternoon kickoff to accommodate a national television broadcast, the festivities continued early Saturday when hundreds of sign-waving fans packed the LSU golf course grounds for ESPN’s “College GameDay.”

Once the game began, fans turned out in record numbers, making for an electric atmosphere inside the stadium. The announced crowd of 93,039 was the largest in the history of Tiger Stadium.

Baton Rouge native Donna Perkins and her family drove 300 miles from their Florida home to see Saban’s return.

Or, as Perkins’ 17-year-old daughter, Kristina, put it: “We came all the way here because we wanted to see Nick Saban go down.”

But the game wasn’t about Saban for every fan.

“I’m for LSU,” said Robert Crutchfield, of Jeanerette. “I don’t care who’s on the other team.”