Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, may be where dreams go to die for most teams - as Les Miles once put it - but that's never been the case for Alabama football. The lauded "Death Valley" has been more of a home away from home for the Crimson Tide over the years.
EA Sports is preparing for its launch of College Football 26, which releases in July. As part of its marketing strategy, EA has released snippets of the game over the last few weeks. Today, it released its ranking of the toughest stadiums to play in the video game. LSU's Tiger Stadium ranked No. 1, while Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium came in at No. 5:
NEW: EA Sports College Football 26 Top 25 toughest places to play🎮https://t.co/36KX4yDXzv pic.twitter.com/e1EqWCKY9P
— On3 (@On3sports) June 24, 2025
The majority of SEC fanbases, and any other fanbase that has had the misfortune of traveling for a road game at LSU, would likely not find much wrong with the Tigers' standing as the top home environment.
That's not true of Alabama, however, which has routinely made a mockery of Death Valley and consistently beaten the Tigers, often soundly, over the years. Some call it Tiger Stadium. Others revere it more and call it Death Valley.
For Alabama fans, it's known more affectionately as "Bryant-Denny West."
Alabama has dominated LSU in Death Valley over the years
Alabama has a record of 30-10-3 all-time in Baton Rouge against LSU. They have a better record playing the Tigers on the road than they do at home (26-17-2).
Simply put, there's been nothing intimidating about that environment for Alabama.
From 1971-1999, Alabama amassed an unbeaten 14-0-1 record in Tiger Stadium. When Nick Saban's LSU beat Mike DuBose's Crimson Tide in Baton Rouge in November of 2000, it was the first home win for LSU over Alabama since 1969.
Alabama responded by blanking LSU 31-0 in 2002. LSU responded by winning two consecutive in Tiger Stadium in 2004 and 2006, which is to date, their last two-game home winning streak against the Crimson Tide since 1946 and 1948.
As Alabama's head coach, Saban faced the intimidating Tiger Stadium environment eight times, amassing a 6-2 overall record. LSU won games over Alabama at home in 2010 and 2022. In the last 14 total meetings between the two teams, Alabama is 12-2.
Younger LSU fans may have chalked up that domination to just the Saban years. But the truth is, Alabama has been beating up on LSU forever. And if anyone thought that might change once Saban retires, they got a rude reality check last November.
In Kalen DeBoer's first crack at matching up with LSU in Death Valley at night, the Crimson Tide won in blowout fashion, 42-13.
The more things change, the more they have stayed the same for Alabama in its home away from home.