Laney: Tigers, Tide rarely share West spotlight

• By GARY LANEY
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Nov 7, 2009

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Back in 1996, in the best of Gerry DiNardo’s five years as LSU’s coach, the Tigers’ chances at an outright Southeastern Conference Western Division championship were doused when Alabama came to Tiger Stadium and whipped them, 26-0.

LSU and the Crimson Tide finished tied on top of the West standings at 6-2, but Alabama advanced to the SEC Championship game, thanks to the win in Baton Rouge.

That’s the only time since the SEC went to a division format in 1992 that LSU and Alabama have finished 1-2 in the West standings.

There’s a good chance that changes this year. LSU and Alabama play today in Tuscaloosa — where LSU, not Alabama, has dominated this decade with four straight wins — and the SEC West title could very well be on the line.

The Tide can claim at least a share of the division title and a spot in Atlanta for the league championship game win a win. An LSU victory would create a two-way tie for first place with the head-to-head tie-breaker going to the Tigers.

It might be surprising to see that those kinds of stakes are rare in this game because out of all the programs in the West, LSU and Alabama have always been the ones best positioned for sustained success.

Ole Miss and Mississippi State share a less-populated state. Arkansas does not have the talent in its recruiting base that LSU and Alabama enjoy. Auburn must deal with being the “second school” in Alabama.

Until now there has always been something holding one, or both programs back from simultaneously climbing to the top. Sometimes, it was the wrong coach. Sometimes, there was a little matter of NCAA rules. Sometimes, you just have doff your cap to Auburn or occasionally Arkansas.

But since the divisional format began, either LSU or Alabama has almost always been in the hunt while the other program struggled.

The Tigers were never a threat under Curley Hallman, and LSU faded out of contention in the last few years of the DiNardo era. Then just as the Tigers rose to powerhouse status with BCS national championships under Nick Saban and Les Miles, Alabama’s program dipped as it struggled with NCAA trouble .

In 2002 the Tide routed LSU 31-0 in Baton Rouge to bolster a 6-2 West record, with the Tigers second at 5-3. But Alabama wasn’t t eligible for the conference championship because of probation, so it technically did not win the West.

While Alabama was in its lean and probation years, it was usually Auburn, and sometimes Ole Miss or Arkansas, that took turns challenging LSU for division supremacy.

Mike Shula guided Alabama to a 10-0 start and to a No. 4 national ranking in 2005 before losses to LSU and Auburn to finish the regular season derailed the Tide.