After narrowly avoiding death with some manna from heaven in the form of John Vaughn, LSU dismantled North Texas and quietly had some struggles against FCS Appalachian State (two years before their historic win in Ann Arbor), putting them down 24-0. All of a sudden LSU was 7-1 and ranked fifth in the nation with a first year coach and looking to book a trip to Atlanta.
Standing in their way was the third ranked Crimson Tide, who in Mike Shula’s third year were sitting undefeated after beating down Florida and skating by Tennessee 6-3. With rivals Auburn waiting in the wings for Alabama with one conference loss (to LSU), both teams understood that this game was a defacto play in game for the SEC Championship.