Who Has LSU Football Played the Most?

LSU began playing football in 1893, joined the SEC in 1932, and has picked up four national championships and 16 conference titles along the way. The Tigers have one of the best programs the South has to offer, and they have a rich history in one of the most college football-obsessed states in America. So, in its more than 125 years of football, who has LSU played the most?

Who Has LSU Football Played the Most?

Includes all games through Jan. 4, 2023.

10: Rice – 56 Games (38-13-5)

LSU first played Rice in 1915, succumbing to the Owls, 6-0. The teams competed two more times in the 1920s, then met annually from 1932 to 1952. Again from 1961 to 1983, the two programs shared a field every season.

Rice has never had much of a foothold in the series. Its longest win streak against LSU is two, and that came back in the 1950s. The Tigers remained unbeaten against the Owls from 1967 through 1979.

There haven’t been many modern meetings between these two. They’ve only played one another three times since 1984 (1987, 1995, 2018), with LSU claiming the last contest, 42-10, in Baton Rouge on Nov. 17, 2018.

9: Auburn – 57 Games (32-24-1)

The inaugural competition between these two sets of Tigers took place in 1901 – a 28-0 Auburn victory in Baton Rouge – and the two teams had already played 17 total games against one another by 1942. But the series took a long hiatus from then until 1969, and these programs only began playing each other annually in 1992.

This series has never experienced too much domination from either side. LSU’s best run was six wins in a row from 1926 through 1937, while Auburn hit four-straight victories from 1989 through 1994. Since both teams have played every season as SEC West foes, LSU has a narrow lead over Auburn, 17-14, with 18 of those games being decided by one possession.

Though this series is low on this list, the lore of the Tiger Bowl has grown steadily over the last three decades. Comebacks, last-second thrillers, and some fun nicknames for individual games, like “The Barn Burner” and “The Earthquake Game” make this one of the more compelling annual matchups on both of these teams’ schedules.

8: Kentucky – 58 Games (40-17-1)

LSU and Kentucky began their history in 1949 and played every season from 1952 through 2002. Since 2003, though, the Tigers and Wildcats have been on the same field only five times.

This series is strongly in the hands of the Tigers. From 1961 through 1973, LSU had its best time in this series with a 13-game winning streak, and it has pulled off successful runs of five victories in a row over Kentucky two other times. The Tigers also had the most famous game in the series go in their favor: the 33-30 victory in 2002 in Lexington that thwarted Kentucky’s upset bid after Wildcats players gave UK head coach Guy Morriss a Gatorade bath with 2 seconds on the clock and a 30-27 lead. What could go wrong?

7: Texas A&M – 61 Games (35-23-3)

Though these teams have only recently begun playing regularly again, there is a long football history between LSU and Texas A&M.

In 1899, LSU and Texas A&M played their first football game, and it was one of the most lopsided of the series. The Tigers opened up their history with their interstate foe with their tails between their legs, capitulating 52-0 in College Station. It took three more tries for LSU to get its initial victory against Texas A&M, but that came in 1908 with a 26-0 as repayment for the shutout nine years earlier.

The teams played a handful of games in the 1910s and 1920s, skipped the 1930s, and rekindled their relationship in the 1940s. From 1942 through 1949, LSU and Texas A&M met every season, but in the 1950s they played just twice. Another run of consistent play came from 1960 through 1975, then again from 1986 through 1995. The Tigers and Aggies have now battled annually since A&M joined the SEC.

Before this series restarted in 2011, only six wins separated LSU from Texas A&M. But the Tigers won the first seven returns of the rivalry from 2011 through 2017, helping to expand their all-time lead to 35-23-3. But the Aggies produced the most recent triumph in the series, upsetting No. 5 LSU on Nov. 26, 2022, 38-23, in College Station to put an end to any hopes the Tigers had of the College Football Playoff.

The rivalry and history between these two are real.

6: Arkansas – 68 Games (43-23-2)

LSU-Arkansas is another series that was revived once one joined the SEC.

In 1901, the Tigers and Razorbacks congregated in Baton Rouge for their first-ever meeting. LSU won, 15-0, and it set the tone for a common theme in this series.

LSU leads Arkansas all-time, 43-23-2, getting the best of the Razorbacks in both of the eras that have seen most of their games. From 1901 through 1936, the Tigers and Razorbacks played every year but one, but from 1937 until 1991, they competed just six times. When the SEC added Arkansas in 1992, these two old foes regained their regularity and have met every season since.

The Tigers have put down the Razorbacks in six of their last seven tries, including the most recent victory: a 13-10 outlasting of the Hogs on Nov. 12, 2022, in Fayetteville.

5: Florida – 69 Games (33-33-3)

It doesn’t get more even than this.

With LSU’s 45-35 victory over Florida in Gainesville on Oct. 15, 2022, this series is officially all tied up at 33-33-3. It was the team’s fourth-straight win against the Gators, matching LSU’s other longest win streak in the rivalry from 1977 through 1980.

This series began in 1937 with a 19-0 LSU triumph in Baton Rouge but became a more regular thing starting in 1953. From then on, LSU and Florida have played almost every year and haven’t missed a beat since 1971.

Florida has experienced the greatest period of dominance in the series, amassing 14 victories from 15 tries between 1988 and 2001. A period of parity befell the series for a few years, and LSU has generally had the better of it since, winning 10 of the last 13 meetings dating back to 2010.

These programs have produced some absolute gems – LSU’s 28-24 victory in 2007 had everything you could ask for and then some, the 1989 contest was mired in controversy after officials granted Florida an additional second to attempt a game-winning field goal, the 2010 meeting was defined by one of the most ridiculous trick plays you’ll ever see, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You don’t have a series this even and this heated without some classics in the mix.

4: Alabama – 87 Games (27-55-5)

This is the only series in LSU football’s top-10 most played that isn’t in its favor.

LSU did win the first game of this rivalry, 12-6, in Baton Rouge in 1895, but that wasn’t an omen for what was to come. Alabama has enjoyed several long periods of total dominance over LSU, such as an unbeaten run of 12 games from 1919 through 1945, an 11-game victory streak from 1971 through 1981, and an eight-contest W collection from 2012 through 2018.

In a laundry list of infamous losses, the likely most painful one for LSU fans was the 2012 BCS National Championship Game, a rematch of a contest played months earlier that went for the Tigers, 9-6. But the second time around, the Crimson Tide rolled, 21-0, and LSU had its natty hopes dashed by a long-time rival.

It hasn’t all been doom and gloom for LSU, though. The Tigers have won two of their last four games against Alabama, including a victory in the most-recent iteration of the rivalry, 32-31, on Nov. 5, 2022, in Baton Rouge.

These teams have played every season since 1963, and though Alabama undoubtedly has been the beneficiary of this relationship more than otherwise, the heat behind this matchup doesn’t seem to simmer.

3: Tulane – 98 Games (69-22-7)

LSU and Tulane haven’t played since 2009, but they’ve met so many times that they just need two more meetings to hit triple digits.

The Green Wave achieved victory in 1893 when these teams first played, 34-0, and maintained parity with LSU into the 1930s. But in 1935, the Tigers trounced Tulane, 41-0, and it marked the beginning of the end for this intrastate series. Since that game, the Green Wave have managed just eight victories over LSU.

The Tigers are currently riding the longest winning streak in the history of this series at 18; Tulane’s last W came in 1982. LSU trounced Tulane in the last game these teams have played, a 42-0 evisceration on Oct. 31, 2009. LSU’s dominance and sense that it no longer had much to gain by playing at Tulane, coupled with the Green Wave’s insistence on maintaining home games in the series, the Battle for the Tag has not been renewed in well over a decade and there are no current plans to do so.

2: Ole Miss – 111 Games (65-42-4)

LSU and Ole Miss have met every year since 1945 and have long since celebrated the century mark in their rivalry. These two first played in 1894 – a 26-6 Ole Miss win in Baton Rouge – and have shared a field 111 times since.

The Tigers have generally had the better of the Rebels, holding a comfortable 65-41-4 lead versus Ole Miss. The Rebels did their best in this series in the 1950s and 1960s, putting together a 15-6-3 record against the Tigers from 1947 through 1969. Outside of that window, LSU has piled up a good deal of Ws.

From 1915 through 1937, LSU defeated Ole Miss in 14 of 15 contests. Between 1970 and 1989, the Tigers only lost to the Rebels four times. Since 2002, LSU is 16-4 against Ole Miss.

Perhaps the biggest game ever played in this series was in 1959. LSU halfback Billy Cannon ran 89 yards to return an Ole Miss punt to the end zone last in the fourth quarter, lifting the Tigers to a 7-3 lead they would not release. The play locked up the Heisman for Cannon and kept the dream of an undefeated season alive. However, Rebels fans would probably be quick to point out that Ole Miss had the last laugh when the teams rematched in the Sugar Bowl, 21-0. This rivalry was at its best in the 1950s and 1960s when both teams were in the national conversation. The dislike between the two hasn’t wavered.

The Tigers are the current holders of the Magnolia Bowl Trophy, winning it on Oct. 22, 2022, in Baton Rouge, 45-20. LSU reclaimed its throne in the series after Ole Miss snapped a five-game losing skid to the Tigers in 2021.

1: Mississippi State – 116 Games (77-36-3)

Mississippi State is LSU’s most-played football opponent of all time.

The Tigers and Bulldogs have competed 116 times, and more often than not, LSU has left the stadium feeling much better than MSU. LSU is 77-36-3 against its closest foe in the SEC and set the tone early – the Tigers opened affairs with the Bulldogs with a 52-0 walloping in 1896 and have barely looked back.

Other than a five-year run from 1980 through 1984, Mississippi State hasn’t put together any serious periods of dominance in this border battle. Conversely, LSU won 14 in a row over the Bulldogs from 2000 through 2013 and has put together unbeaten streaks of 11 and 10 in the series.

But the lopsided nature hasn’t hampered the ritual of competition. LSU and Mississippi State have played every season since 1944 and have only skipped six years dating back to 1902. And just because the Tigers have won most of the games doesn’t mean there haven’t been some serious showdown between these rivals. In 1982, MSU stopped a 7-0-1 LSU team from experiencing an undefeated season. In 2000, LSU came back from 14 down to win in overtime. In 2009, a goal-line stand from the Tigers held the Bulldogs at bay. In 2014, Dak Prescott led the Bulldogs in the snapping of LSU’s 14-game win streak against them.

In the most recent meeting on Sept. 17, 2022, the Tigers came out the better side, 31-16, in Baton Rouge. It was LSU’s second-consecutive victory in the series.