BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – The last time Nick Saban came to Tiger Stadium as a “visiting” coach, his reception was anything but hostile.
The ambiance inside Death Valley for a 2005 contest between the Katrina-displaced New Orleans Saints and Saban’s Miami Dolphins had an element of a family reunion to it.
Numerous fans wearing LSU purple and gold applauded when Saban emerged from the tunnel. The coach waved back affectionately.
It was as if the crowd wanted Saban to know the BCS championship he helped LSU win during the 2003 season would never be forgotten, and that he’d always be welcome in Baton Rouge.
rimson Tide.
Apparently, leaving LSU for the NFL was understandable. Returning to the college ranks to coach one of LSU’s chief rivals in the Southeastern Conference’s West Division wasn’t.
LSU fans reveled in the Tigers’ win at Alabama last season, the first with Saban as the Tide’s coach. It was a high point of LSU’s national championship campaign under Saban’s successor, Les Miles.
With two losses already this season, LSU’s hopes of a repeat national title are very slim. Still, Tigers fans would get enormous satisfaction out of seeing their squad possibly derail Saban’s bid to place Alabama in this year’s title game.
The hype surrounding what some in south Louisiana are calling “Saban Bowl 2” seems a little unsettling for Miles, who urged his players to “deflect” questions about his predecessor’s return to Tiger Stadium and even offered a similar message to fans.
“I encourage them to root for us hard, not necessarily be too pointed at our opponent,” Miles said Monday as LSU began preparations for what likely is the biggest game left on its schedule. “Leave our opponent alone, just root hard for LSU.”
Miles has earned enormous goodwill in Louisiana after bowl victories and no fewer than 11 wins in each of his first three seasons, but he has to know some fans won’t follow that advice.
always easy.
“I’ve gotten a few phone calls already talking about coach Saban vs. coach Miles,” said LSU senior defensive end Kirston Pittman, who grew up in southeast Louisiana. “We expect those kinds of things to happen. We have some great fans and it’s something they really feed on and we feed off their energy.”
Because of two medical redshirts, this is Pittman’s sixth season at LSU. He was recruited by Saban and played on both Saban’s and Miles’ BCS championship teams. When asked to compare the two coaches, Pittman said both are great at their jobs and are great men as well.
Pittman said he bears no ill-will toward Saban, but marveled at how far reality diverged from the expectations he had back when Saban made a recruiting visit to his house.
“That’s bananas. When I was getting recruited by coach Saban I never thought he would leave. That’s something no one can control. Situations come up and people have to do what they have to do,” Pittman said. “It’s kind of crazy that he is on the other side of the ball … and coming in with the No. 1 team in the country.”
Pittman didn’t dwell on that for long, however, and promised that the Tigers had enough veteran leadership, enough maturity, to “tune out” the hype and focus on details they’ll need to know in order to execute their assignments against one of the best teams in the country.
“We know they’re going to bring their A-game and they’re a great ball club,” Pittman said. “Trust me, we’re taking everything into account right now.”
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