Saban, Alabama calling for another raucous home crowd vs. LSU
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – It’s been 11 days since Alabama defeated Tennessee at Bryant-Denny Stadium, and head coach Nick Saban and the players are still talking about the crowd.
“It was very loud at Bryant-Denny, probably the loudest I’ve seen this year,” linebacker Chris Braswell said. “They do a tremendous job making noise, and we’ll definitely need that again this week.”
Crimson Tide fans made their present felt in the home team’s 34-20 victory over the Vols. While it was loud when Alabama charged back in the second half, coming back from a 20-7 halftime deficit, the crowd made its largest impact in Tennessee’s penultimate drive of the game, forcing a pair of pre-snap penalties on a series that ended with a turnover on downs.
“Crowd noise definitely plays an extreme part into the game,” offensive tackle JC Latham said. “That was the loudest I think I’ve heard Bryant-Denny get. I loved it. They got two false-start penalties. When Jihaad (Campbell) scored that touchdown, it was insane.
“Just having the crowd behind you definitely adds momentum for the defense because you know that the offense, when they’re out there, just creates a lot of confusion, a lot of stuff going on.
“Sometimes the offense can’t communicate with one another so they can’t be all in tune and get ready to go. And then when the offense is out there, we know we got the home fans behind us, so we’re all playing as one and it’s a great feeling.”
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Alabama boasts the best all-time home winning percentage in the FBS with an .840 (295-55-3) mark at Bryant-Denny Stadium since it opened in 1929. Boise State’s Albertsons Stadium (285-63) is the next closest at .819. The Tide is 106-9 (.922) at Bryant-Denny during Saban’s tenure, including a 102-6 (.944) record since the start of the 2008 season.
Saban owns a 77-11 (.875) all-time record when playing in an SEC game at home, going 16-4 (.800) during his time at LSU and owning a 61-7 (.897) record at Alabama. While with the Crimson Tide, Saban has posted nine perfect home SEC slates (most recently a 4-0 mark in 2022), and Alabama has outscored its SEC home opponents 2,465-1,013 and has limited the opposition to 14 points or less on 41 occasions, including eight shutout victories.
He praised the fans for their contribution to the Crimson Tide’s win over a rival in its last outing and emphasized the importance of a repeat performance when LSU comes to town.
“I think the atmosphere and environment that they have created in all of our games this year has been phenomenal,” said Saban after Wednesday’s practice of LSU week. “I think it’s going to be really, really important in this game. I thought it was absolutely as good as it ever gets for the Tennessee game, which I think had an impact on the game. It affected them.
“I think it’s going to be important that we have that same kind of atmosphere in this game.”
Cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry lit up when asked about the atmosphere in Tuscaloosa and reiterated Saban’s point that Alabama needs the fans to show up again on Saturday.
“I’m very glad you asked about the crowd,” McKinstry said. “I’m very excited with how they were here against Tennessee. I feel like we need the same amount of energy, if not more, for this game. We need the fans to be there.
“We’re very excited to have the fans at our game, and we want to make the game as hard as we can and make it to our advantage that we have a crowd here that’s on our side.”
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