TAMPA, Fla. – LSU linebacker Whit Weeks couldn’t help but grin in anticipation.
When asked about a rare visit by Texas football to Baton Rouge, La., on Nov. 14, Weeks reeled off the reasons why the game seems special for both fan bases during an interview Thursday at the SEC’s media days.
Senior night for the Tigers in Death Valley, the locals’ preferred moniker for Tiger Stadium; the final home game for the Tigers; Texas quarterback Arch Manning’s first game as a starter in his home state.
Oh, and a late-season meeting between two teams with expectations for an SEC championship and a College Football Playoff berth.
“That’s going to be a fun one, for sure,” said Weeks, a 6-foot-3, 225-pound senior who returns as one of the best linebackers in the SEC. “Death Valley will be rocking. I mean, two legendary programs going at it. What more could you ask for?”
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The Longhorns could ask for more success when it comes to Death Valley. Texas leads the overall series 9-8-1 but has won just once in five games in Baton Rouge. But only the most seasoned Longhorn fans remember those trips to the bayou; Texas hasn’t visited Tiger Stadium since the second of back-to-back games in 1953.
LSU linebacker TJ Dottery admitted to some bias but said the Tigers have the best home-field advantage in the SEC. Tight end Trey’Dez Green said his team has “one of one of the best fan bases, if not the best fan base, in college football.”
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“They (the Texas Longhorns) have an amazing program over there,” Green said. “They have a wonderful team. But they’re coming to Death Valley. They just can expect a heck of a game, man.”
And what does Green think about the homecoming of sorts for Manning?
“I know Arch is a good player,” he said. “I’ve been watching him. I’m not really on the media like that, but I’ve seen him,” he said. “How could you not know about him?
This article originally published at Why LSU football eager to welcome Arch Manning, Texas Longhorns to Death Valley in 2026.
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