Nick Saban shares hilarious memories about why 'it's hard to play at LSU at night'

Nick Saban coached at Tiger Stadium countless times during his career, whether it be as the head coach at LSU or when he was bringing his Alabama teams to town.

Saban joined The Pat McAfee Show on Friday and shared what it is that makes Death Valley such a tough place to play. He started with a hilarious story about LSU fans from his time as the Tigers head coach.

“Well, you know, let me just tell you a story, when I first went to LSU, they weren’t very good. I think they were 3-8 the year before. And in those days, you know, they picked what time you played based on how good you were,” Nick Saban said. “Because to be on the CBS game was 2:30 [CT], you had to be good, because they always picked the best game. So we got to be halfway decent, we started having lots of 2:30 games, and the fans just went berserk because we weren’t playing at night.

“They wanted to use the whole day to get tuned up for a night game. And you know, I tried to give them a coaching point and say, ‘Why can’t you get half tuned up, go to the game, then half an after party and get further tuned up?’ But they didn’t buy that. So my point being, they will be juiced and ready to go, and it’s hard to play at LSU at night.”

LSU fans are known for their tailgating and partying, and Tiger Stadium is widely regarded as one of the toughest places to play in the country.

Saban also recalled a time when he was coaching at Alabama when his Crimson Tide team had all kinds of issues at Death Valley.

“I mean, I remember when Tua [Tagovailoa] was playing for us and we had a really good team and we got the ball at the beginning of the game and we went right down the field. And we got down there on about the 20-yard line of the student section, we had like four straight false starts,” Saban said. “I mean we couldn’t go on silent; we couldn’t go on clap. We couldn’t get the ball snapped.” 

It’s not just LSU that is a tough place to play in the SEC. Saban believes that the conference as a whole is different from other leagues. With that said, LSU might stand out among the rest.

“We’ve never had playoff games in college that were at a home site, and it will be a huge advantage, especially in the SEC, because there’s so many hard places to play,” Saban said. “I mean it’s hard to play at A&M. It’s hard to play at Tennessee. It’s hard to play in The Swamp. It’s hard to play at a lot of places, but that’s why the league is what it is.

“The people in the Southeast have great passion for football and college athletics, maybe more so than other places, because there were no pro sports in the south early on when they grew up. So they all relate to college athletics, which I think is fantastic. … The spirit and the passion in the Southeast is phenomenal.”