TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — LSU public address announcer Dan Borne can rally a fan base in just five words.

When his sonorous tone utters "It's Saturday night in Death Valley," a stadium awakens. In unison, the sold-out Tiger Stadium roars like the school's nickname. Those mere seconds of getting fans fired up before kickoff is just the appetizer of what is to come for opposing teams.

For many, making it out of Baton Rouge is a battle, let alone trying to walk away with a win and Alabama is no exception. The Crimson Tide has won its last five games in Baton Rouge, La., outscoring the Tigers 135-40 over that span. But that won't make this week's game any easier.

Saturday night is sure to feature an unruly atmosphere as both teams come into the game ranked for the first time since 2019 and with a chance to win the SEC West.

"This game has always got significant implications – they’re always ranked, we’re always ranked," Nick Saban said. "It’s kind of a rivalry game that’s always a really important match-up."

While Alabama will play its third road SEC game, former players remarked that there really isn't a more hostile environment than Tiger Stadium as they shared their stories about playing in Death Valley.

Eryk Anders had no way to explain just how intense LSU fans are.

When asked about what makes them so different, Anders opts to tell a story. It was 2008 and Alabama was a perfect 9-0 heading into Baton Rouge. The arrival to the visiting locker room was rocky, literally and figuratively as Tiger fans shook the Crimson Tide buses "saying some not-so-nice things to us."

Despite all of the racket, Anders vividly remembers an LSU fan pushing a stroller decked out in purple and gold.

"I saw them pushing the stroller and were yelling and cussing," Anders said. "Then all of a sudden I see a hand reach out from the stroller. I can't see a body, I can't see a head — nothing. All I see is this little hand come out of the stroller with its middle finger up in the air. All I said was, 'Oh s**t they are for real.'"

Anders heard all of the tales about what it's like to play in Baton Rouge but nothing could have prepared him for a toddler to flip him off.

"It was the rowdiest place we ever played and I don't think we played anywhere like that — ever," Anders said. "Even when we were down 24 points to Auburn it still wasn't nearly as loud and rowdy."

That energy continued inside Tiger Stadium as more than 102,000 screaming fans packed the house for one of the great games between the two rivals.

The game featured five lead changes as both teams traded scores, forcing the game into overtime. With so much parity in the game, the noise levels continued to rise with every completion on offense and every stop on defense. Even when the Tiger offense was on the field, Anders recalled that it was almost deafening.

"You can't hear s**t," Anders said. "You can't talk, you can't hear anything and I'm on defense. It was their quiet for their offense so everything was hand signals and I'm pretty sure it measured on the Richter Scale."

Along with the noise, Ross Pierschbacher said playing a night game at Tiger Stadium is its own unique experience.

With a whole day to get prepared for the nightcap, fans seem to kick it up a notch. In 2018, Pierschbacher remembers the first-team bus abruptly stopping right before the team reached the visiting entrance. At the front of the bus, an LSU fan impeded its progress, banging on the glass and screaming obscenities.

In moments a police officer got off their motorcycle and "spear-tackled" the fan out of the way.

"That's what you're stepping into, it's as hostile as it gets," Pierschbacher said. "We always enjoyed that. It was kind of an us against the world mentality. That's something we always did a good job of was they would get too hyped up during the pregame and dance around during warmups. For us, it was always business as usual."

The rivalry peaked that season as No. 1 Alabama traveled to Baton Rouge to face No. 3 LSU. The hype continued to build around the top-five matchup as the winner would not only go on to win the SEC West, but would put itself in a position to go to the College Football Playoff.

The circumstances leading up to the game plus the implications for the winning team dubbed it "The Game of the Century."

"I mean they were shaking the bus, throwing stuff at us, flipping us off and that just fired us up," Pierschbacher said. "It was like 'Alright, f**k you. You can't just sit there and disrespect us.' I think that's why we liked going on the road. It was almost like a bar fight and that was kind of our mentality. It was us against them and let's see who comes out on top."

Pierschbacher further linked the environment at Tiger Stadium to playing in The Coliseum. The center admitted that he "had to play most of the game with my head between my legs," but the noise couldn't slow down Alabama's offense tallied 576 yards of total offense en route to a 29-0 win.

"(Scott) Cochran used to say, 'We're going to walk into your trap and take over your trap,'" Pierschbacher said. "We took a lot of pride and joy in walking into people's houses and taking it over."

Unlike Pierschbacher and Anders, the 2022 rendition of the Crimson Tide hasn't experienced a full-capacity night game in Baton Rouge.

Alabama's last trip to Tiger Stadium, there were only 25,000 fans who were allowed to see the game live because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Emil Ekiyor Jr. was at Alabama the last time the team traveled to Baton Rouge for a night game, but he didn't make the trip. Despite hearing stories from teammates about how raucous it is, he's played in plenty of hostile environments, especially this season.

With trips to Austin and Knoxville already behind the team, Ekiyor said Alabama is prepared for the crowd noise.

"Just being on the team that year, from everybody that got to experience that environment, it was just the craziest environment they said they’ve been a part of," Ekiyor said. "We’ve been in some pretty loud stadiums – Florida, Texas A&M – and that still ranks at the top for everybody that experienced that game. We’re looking forward to the challenge and handling the crowd, but we’re just focused on our preparation and making sure the crowd isn’t a factor."

Despite the inexperience, Pierschbacher left some parting words for his alma mater, highlighting the need for Alabama to focus on one job — execution.

"Just channel your emotions and don't let the stage get too big," Pierschbacher said. "At the end of the day, it's 11 versus 11 for 60 minutes. I'm sure they are going to be prepared and ready to roll, just don't beat yourselves."