Coined a "Game of the Century," this was the first time two Southeastern Conference (SEC) football teams came into a regular season matchup undefeated and ranked No.

When former LSU head coach Nick Saban was hired in the same capacity at Alabama, their annual contest became, arguably, an even more heated rivalry than before.

4 in all of the major college polls, and prior to their annual meeting, each team defeated all eight of their opponents, and LSU moved into the No.

[19] Against the highly regarded Oregon running attack, the LSU defense held the Ducks to less than 100 yards rushing and won the game 40–27.

[23] Although West Virginia was able to outgain the Tigers in total offense 533 to 366 yards, four Mountaineer turnovers resulted in a 47–21 LSU victory.

1 team in both the AP and Coaches' Polls for the first time of the season after the Oklahoma Sooners were upset by Texas Tech Red Raiders.

[20][32] In Week 2, the Crimson Tide traveled to Beaver Stadium for the first time since 1989 to play the Penn State Nittany Lions.

23 Nittany Lions 27–11, and returned to Tuscaloosa for a pair of home games against the North Texas Mean Green and the Arkansas Razorbacks.

[38] After a 52–7 win over the Ole Miss Rebels at Vaught–Hemingway Stadium, Alabama returned for their annual Third Saturday in October contest against the Tennessee Volunteers.

[39] The Crimson Tide defeated Tennessee for the fifth consecutive season with their 37–6 victory and entered their bye week undefeated and ranked No.

[42] The deal with CBS involved swapping games to other networks and gave future scheduling considerations for the 2012 season to ESPN.

[42] The 2011 edition of the Alabama–LSU football rivalry kicked off at 7:14 p.m. CST on November 5, 2011, before a crowd of 101,821 people at Bryant–Denny Stadium, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Marquis Maze fielded the James Hairston kickoff and returned it to the Alabama 30-yard line where the offense began its first series.

[43] Alabama opened with a pair of gains by Trent Richardson on an 18-yard run and on a 22-yard pass reception from A. J. McCarron to reach the LSU 30-yard line.

However, the drive stalled on the next three plays, and on fourth down Cade Foster missed a 44-yard field goal wide right and the game remained tied at zero.

[44] After LSU gained a pair of first downs on runs by Spencer Ware and short passes from Lee, the drive faltered, and Brad Wing punted the ball out-of-bounds at the Alabama five.

[44] Alabama started their second drive with a short gain and an incompletion, and then McCarron then threw a 19-yard pass to Maze for a first down.

[43] The Crimson Tide gained another pair of first downs with a Maze reception and three runs each from Richardson and Eddie Lacy before the drive stalled at the LSU 33.

[43] After a ten-yard gain by Richardson to start the quarter, Alabama lost a total of seven yards on consecutive plays and a McCarron incompletion on third down set up a third long field goal attempt.

[43] This time the 49-yard attempt from Jeremy Shelley was blocked by Bennie Logan and recovered by Eric Reid who returned it to the Alabama 48.

[44] After a five-yard substitution penalty, Jefferson completed a 34-yard pass to Russell Shepard to give the Tigers a first and goal from the Alabama eight.

[44] After a four-yard rush by Ford and a Jefferson incompletion, Dre Kirkpatrick was called for holding that resulted in a first and goal from the Alabama two-yard line.

[44] After they gained a first down on a short pass on a pair of runs, the Alabama defense stopped the Tigers on their next series to force a punt.

[44] After a two-yard Jefferson run to open the fourth quarter, Alleman kicked a 30-yard field goal to tie the game at 6–6.

[44] After a pair of runs that netted a loss of one yard, on third down, Alleman kicked a 25-yard field goal to give LSU the 9–6 victory.

[44] In a game noted for dominant defense performances for both teams, offensively, both Alabama and LSU had similar statistics.

[45] Defensively, Nico Johnson led Alabama with eleven total tackles in the game, followed by DeQuan Menzie with eight.

[47] Mark Barron and Robert Lester each had one interception and Courtney Upshaw accounted for the Crimson Tide's only quarterback sack of the game.

[47] For LSU, Ryan Baker led the Tigers with eight total tackles in the game, followed by both Eric Reid and Sam Montgomery who each had six.

[54] Alabama secured a place in the BCS National Championship Game after they completed the regular season ranked No.