With the monumental season opener between Clemson and LSU now just days away, Dabo Swinney’s focus is locked firmly on the present. But ask him about his history with the Bayou Bengals, and his mind flashes back through the decades—to a time when he was a young player and coach at Alabama, embroiled in some of the most formative battles of his career.
During his 13 years in Tuscaloosa, Swinney was a part of 13 Alabama-LSU games. And while the in-state war with Auburn was a different kind of bitter, the annual clash with LSU was a brutal, divisional measuring stick. It was a rivalry that forged a deep and lasting respect, cemented by one of the wildest finishes he’s ever witnessed.
“I remember we played them there… we were down, like, 13 points or something with just a couple minutes left,” Swinney recalled, the memory still vivid. “It was crazy.”
The scene was a cacophony in Death Valley. A late-game deficit seemed insurmountable. Then, the impossible began to unfold.
“We get Shaun Alexander on a wheel route out the back door… touchdown,” Swinney recounted, the sequence playing out in his mind. “Then, the onside kick. Jason McAddley got it. Then we hit Quincy Jackson for a touchdown to win the game.”
He shakes his head, still seemingly in disbelief decades later. “That’s one of the craziest lot of battles I’ve ever been a part of.”
But the on-field drama was only part of the experience. Swinney’s respect for LSU was also shaped by a unique and intimidating pre-game ritual, a face-to-face encounter with the opponent’s living, breathing mascot.
“I don't think they do it anymore, but back when I was playing, you’d come right out of the tunnel, and it has a tiger right there,” Swinney said. “I mean, Mike the Tiger, his cage is right there. You get your gloves on, get ready for the game, you know, and you look over and there he is.”
That memory—of a miraculous comeback snatched from the jaws of defeat and the primal sight of a live tiger just feet from the field—encapsulates the respect Swinney carries for the program he is about to face. The past has informed the present. He knows the history, he knows the passion, and he knows exactly what kind of fight awaits his team in Atlanta.
“I got tremendous respect for the program,” Swinney said. “It's one of the cool places, I think, in college football to experience a game, just like this place here.”