Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Alabama–LSU football rivalry

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. — Mr. Stradivarius ^{(have a chat)} 14:39, 11 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Alabama–LSU football rivalry

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This is only a rivalry for one school, LSU. Alabama considers its games with Auburn and Tennessee as a much higher priority. Also, this series was mostly one-sided for much of its history, only gaining relevance since 2007 when Nick Saban, who once coached at LSU, took over at Alabama. DavidSteinle (talk) 09:03, 4 August 2012 (UTC) Creating deletion discussion for Alabama–LSU football rivalry[reply]

I'm not seeing a strong case made for a rivalry in the article. Beyond the three references all referring to one game in 2007, calling this a rivalry is synthesis. It's not even that easy to find reliable sources discussing "Saban Bowl", with most of the mentions being in amateur articles and blogs. There is CBS sports' mention in 2007, USA Today's mention in 2008, and these two from 2009 [1] and 2011 [2] but I can't tell if they're valid sources or not. ~~Regardless, I see the Saban Bowl as the only real coverage of this so-called rivalry. Perhaps the article ought to be moved there and refactored.~~ BigNate37_(T) 15:57, 4 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of American football-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 19:54, 4 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Keep there is actually enough news articles on Google to pass the WP:GNG (and also WP:NRIVALRY, which directly correlates to GNG). -- Luke (Talk) 20:52, 4 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
- Well I spent a bit longer looking before saying anything further, but I'm still not able to find articles about a rivalry between Alabama and LSU. There are tons of articles that mention all four terms ('Alabama', 'LSU', 'football', and 'rivalry') sprinkled on various pages, but none that I saw discussed a rivalry between those two schools, excepting the stuff I mentioned before that is merely tangential mention of a rivalry, primarily focussing on the Saban Bowl. I guess what I'm saying is do you have some links to back up your claim? BigNate37_(T) 21:12, 4 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  - A quick Google search shows many articles, from Bleacher Report, ESPN, The Times-Picayune, CNN, just to name a few. -- Luke (Talk) 13:57, 5 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
    - Clear keep then. If you have something it's better to link it in the first place rather than assert its existence. I was being genuine when I said I looked twice and found little of value. BigNate37_(T) 19:29, 5 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Keep series apparently goes back to 1895. Even if current fans today don't consider it a rivalry, its obvious it has been in the past. Notability is not temporary.--Paul McDonald (talk) 23:47, 4 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Keep. If this AfD only involved the notability of the Alabama–LSU football series, this would be a clear keep and not a close call. However, the consensus policy of WP:CFB is that rivalry articles should only be created for series that are explicitly known as rivalries. Otherwise, content related to well-known college football series that do not satisfy the express "rivalry" requirement is incorporated into team articles and season articles, not spun off as stand-alone articles. (Note that we recently deleted the "Alabama–Florida football rivalry" article for exactly this reason, despite extensive in-depth media coverage.) In this particular case, because the Alabama–LSU series receives annual in-depth coverage nationally, the series has over 100 years of extremely well-documented history, and it has been known as a "rivalry" during several intervals in the past (if not currently) per Paul's comment above, I am willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 03:21, 8 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Keep Notable and well known rivalry. they just played in the National Championship game! ~EDDY ^{(talk/contribs)}~ 16:29, 9 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.