DALLAS (KRLD) - The last time the Texas Longhorns and LSU Tigers faced off in the regular season, Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, gasoline was 29 cents a gallon and Texas had zero professional sports franchises.
On Sept. 18, 1954, Texas and LSU met before a crowd of 36,000 at Memorial Stadium in Austin. On that toasty 93-degree day, the Longhorns jumped out to a 14-0 halftime lead and held on to beat LSU, 20-6.
The matchup this Saturday night in Austin will mark the first regular-season meeting between the two college football titans in 65 years. LSU and Texas did square off in the Cotton Bowl in 1963 and 2003.
While the series has been sparsely-played, with only 17 total games, it does date all the way back to 1896. That first meeting marked the first time the Longhorns traveled outside the borders of Texas for a football game. UT lost to LSU in Baton Rouge, 14-0.
The schools actually played four consecutive years from 1935-38, with LSU winning three of those games, while the other result was a tie in 1936. Texas also ran up a four-game unbeaten streak in the series, defeating the Tigers in 1941, 1948, 1950 and 1952.
Texas leads the all-time series over LSU, 9-7-1. In the last meeting on Jan. 1, 2003, the Longhorns beat LSU, 35-20. The Tigers would go on to win the national championship the following year under head coach Nick Saban. Texas followed with a national title of its own during the 2005 season.
Kickoff is at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin. Pregame coverage begins at 5:30 p.m. on News Radio 1080 KRLD.
