LSU-Alabama Gets Afternoon Kickoff for Huge SEC Showdown
Baton Rouge, Louisiana - One of college football's biggest rivalries is gearing up for another chapter, and LSU fans now know when the Tigers and Alabama will kick things off in Baton Rouge.
The No. 15 LSU Tigers will welcome the No. 10 Alabama Crimson Tide to Tiger Stadium on Saturday, November 7, with kickoff set for 2:30 p.m. CT on ABC.
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LSU and Alabama Could Be Playing for Their Playoff Lives
There's a good chance this game could decide which team stays in the College Football Playoff conversation. Both LSU and Alabama already have two losses, meaning another defeat could make it extremely difficult to reach the 12-team playoff.
CBS Sports college football analyst Brad Crawford believes the loser of this game could finish the regular season at 9-3 and miss the playoff entirely.
LSU is coming off a 38-17 road victory over Auburn, where the Tigers put together one of their best offensive performances of the season. LSU scored 31 points in the first half and cruised to a 21-point victory. Alabama, meanwhile, is coming off a come-from-behind win at home against Texas A&M after suffering back-to-back losses to Georgia and Tennessee. The Tide were in trouble for most of the matchup against the Aggies before storming from behind to win in the 4th Quarter.
The 2026 matchup will be the final annual meeting between LSU and Alabama for the foreseeable future. With the SEC changing its scheduling format, LSU was not selected as one of Alabama's three permanent conference opponents. That means 2027 will be the first season since 1963 when the Tigers and Crimson Tide won't meet on the football field. The two programs are scheduled to meet again in 2028, but Alabama won't return to Baton Rouge until at least 2030.
LSU-Alabama Will Be a Day Game in Death Valley
Monday afternoon, ESPN announced that LSU-Alabama will play an afternoon game in Tiger Stadium. There is a massive slate in college football that week with many top 15 matchups. With that, the SEC announced that LSU-Alabama will kick off at 2:30 on ABC. It will be the first daytime meeting between the two programs since 2019, when Joe Burrow led LSU to a 46-41 victory over Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Here's what LSU fans need to know:
- Matchup: No. 10 Alabama at No. 15 LSU
- Date: Saturday, November 7, 2026
- Kickoff: 2:30 p.m. CT
- Location: Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- TV: ABC
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