Tiger Stadium, aka Death Valley, Louisiana State University (LSU), Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Tiger Stadium, aka Death Valley, Louisiana State University (LSU), Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Image by Ken Lund
Tiger Stadium or Death Valley is the home field of Louisiana State University American football team. With a seating capacity of 92,400, it is the ninth largest stadium in the NCAA and third largest stadium in the SEC after Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium and Georgia’s Sanford Stadium. In terms of general population, Tiger Stadium would be the sixth-largest city in Louisiana for the seven home games each year.
Tiger Stadium is commonly referred to as "Death Valley," due to its high level of cheering during games. The original nickname of "deaf valley" was applied to the stadium (distinguishing it from Clemson University’s Memorial Stadium), but over the years was misunderstood for "death valley." During a nationally televised game against Auburn in 2003, ESPN recorded a noise level of 119 decibels at certain points in the game. During the October 6, 2007 game against the University of Florida, CBS recorded 130 decibels, thus making it the second loudest collegiate stadium in the country, behind Husky Stadium in Seattle, Washington.
The standard cheer among Tigers fans is "GEAUX TIGERS!" (pronounced "Go")–the spelling of "geaux" reflecting Louisiana’s French roots. Fans also commonly taunt opposing players and fans by yelling "Tiger bait!" while waving and pointing their fingers at them in the same manner as Florida State University’s "tomahawk chop".
Despite being 14–2 at Tiger Stadium, famed Alabama head coach Bear Bryant once remarked that "Baton Rouge happens to be the worst place in the world for a visiting team. It’s like being inside a drum."[1] In 2001, ESPN sideline reporter Adrian Karsten said, "Death Valley in Baton Rouge is the loudest stadium I’ve ever been in."[2] In 2002, Miami (Ohio) coach Terry Hoeppner said of Tiger Stadium, "That’s as exciting an environment as you can have … we had communication problems we haven’t had at Michigan and Ohio State."[2] In 2003, ESPN’s Chris Fowler called LSU his favorite game day experience.[2] In 2009 Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee stated "Unfair is playing LSU on a Saturday night in Baton Rouge." on Fox news with Sean Hannity.
Survey after survey has concluded that Tiger Stadium is the most difficult place for a visiting team to play, including surveys by the College Football Association in 1987, The Sporting News in 1989, Gannett News Service in 1995, and Sport Magazine in 1998.[2] More recently, in 2007, ESPN named Tiger Stadium "the scariest place to play," saying that "Tiger Stadium is, by far, the loudest stadium in the country."[3]
In 2009, ESPN writer Chris Low listed Tiger Stadium’s Saturday night atmosphere as unsurpassed in the country, ranking it No. 1 out of the conference’s 12 stadiums.
Tiger Stadium was the site of the legendary "Earthquake Game" against Auburn in 1988. LSU won the game, 7-6, when quarterback Tommy Hodson completed a game-winning touchdown pass to running back Eddie Fuller in the waning seconds of the game. The crowd reaction registered as a legitimate earthquake on the seismograph in the Louisiana Geological Survey office on campus.[7]
Other famous moments:
The Billy Cannon touchdown run on Halloween night in 1959 when #1-ranked LSU scored late in the game to win against #3 Ole Miss by a score of 7-3[8];
The last-second Bert Jones touchdown pass in 1972 against Ole Miss. LSU was down 16–10 with four seconds left in the game when Jones made an incomplete pass. At the end of the play, fans looked at the clock which surprisingly showed one second remaining. LSU used the last second of the game for a touchdown pass from Bert Jones to Brad Davis. According to Ole Miss lore, a sign was put up at the Louisiana–Mississippi border reading "You are now entering Louisiana. Set your clocks back four seconds."[9]; and
On October 11, 1997, #14 LSU upset #1 Florida with a 28–21 victory[10].
Tiger Stadium first opened its gates to fans in the fall of 1924 as LSU hosted Tulane in the season finale. Since the first game in Tiger Stadium, LSU has gone on to post a 354-138-18 (.716) mark in Death Valley.[2] Moreover, Tiger Stadium is also known for night games, an idea that was first introduced in 1931 against Spring Hill (a 35-0 LSU victory). In 2006, LSU celebrated its 75th year of playing night football in Tiger Stadium. LSU has played the majority of its games at night and the Tigers have fared much better under the lights than during the day. Since 1960, LSU is 201–59–3 (.773) at night in Tiger Stadium compared to a 20–22–3 (.476) record during the day over that span.[2] Currently, LSU has not lost a Saturday night game in Death Valley since the 2002 season.
Unlike most football fields, where only the yard lines ending in "0" are marked, Tiger Stadium also marks the yard lines ending in "5".
LSU’s Tiger Stadium uniquely sports "H" style goal posts, as opposed to the more modern "Y" style used by other schools today, although they are not the true "H" goal posts which were once ubiquitous on American football fields, since the posts are behind the uprights and connected to the uprights by arched bars. This "H" style allows the team to run through the goal post in the north endzone when entering the field. Tiger Stadium is one of only three Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools college stadiums in the nation who still uses the H style goal posts. The only other FBS stadiums that use goalposts with two posts all season are Doak Campbell Stadium at Florida State and Martin Stadium at Washington State. Many other schools use the two post goals during rivalry games only to prevent them from being torn down in victory, a real safety concern in recent years. They received special permission from the NCAA prior to the November 20, 1993 game against Tulane in conjunction with LSU’s football centennial. These goal posts remained intact for the four New Orleans Saints games held in 2005, with special permission from the NFL. Under NFL rules in place since 1967, goalposts for NFL games must be "slingshot" style with a single post and bright gold in color. Tiger Stadium’s goalposts are white.