The hate fans harbor for perceived slights tend to disappear once the team wins without the guilty party. I didn’t see many Phillies fans at the victory parade calling for former GM Ed Wade’s head. Giants fans are willing to give Tiki Barber a free pass. But things are different in college football, where hatred runs long and deep. Nick Saban will be making his first return to LSU this weekend, and Tigers fans are already ramping up the invective.

You’d think Baton Rouge might roll out the Carpet Rouge for the man who coached LSU to its first national championship in 45 years, and whose recruits won a second title this past January. So why is Saban being forced to travel in an unmarked vehicle?

It’s the perfect storm of a rivalry. LSU needs to win to have any hope of winning the SEC. Alabama is the number one team in the country, and the thought of spoiling their perfect season is a delicious one. And there’s plenty of bitterness toward Saban, first for jumping ship for a payday (in some eyes), then for signing on with a conference rival. But it’s still jarring to read THE TIMES-PICAYUNE’s blog, with posts that read like dispatches from the fall of Baghdad:

No sooner had LSU defeated visiting Tulane 35-10 on Saturday night than T-shirts were available outside Tiger Stadium blaring “Beat $aban.”

Anti-Saban billboards greeted the Louisiana Capitol on Sunday morning, and the radio frequencies were filled with ads for a planned rally Friday at which a Saban effigy will be relaxed by some makeshift inquisition. Security details will be beefed up for the 2:30 p.m. game, and the word is Saban will forego the traditional team bus to the stadium for the safety of some dark-windowed unmarked vehicle.

Saban, for his part, made it clear he won’t be talking about anything that takes place off the field:

“It’s going to be about our players and about our team,” he said after Saturday’s game. “I don’t care how hard anybody tries to make it about something else, it’s not going to be. I’m kind of giving you a little forewarning.

“If somebody wants to get a you-know-what chewing this week, that’ll be a good way to get it.”

We’ll see how long little Nicky keeps his cool once he gets a look at the you-know-what chewing Tigers fans have in store.