The LSU Tigers football team, also known as the Fighting Tigers or Bayou Bengals, represents Louisiana State University in the sport of American football. The Tigers compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Current head coach Les Miles has led the team since 2005. Since 1999 when Nick Saban took over as the head coach the Tigers have been consistently a top ten team. LSU enters the 2011 season with 721 victories, the 12th most in NCAA history, and the 4th most of any SEC team, behind only Alabama (792), Tennessee (783), and Georgia (731). LSU entered the 2010 season with a 0.641 all-time winning percentage, the 14th best in the NCAA, and the 4th best in the SEC, behind only Alabama (0.707), Tennessee (0.692), and Georgia (0.646). They won the BCS National Championship in 2004 (2003 season) with a 21–14 win over Oklahoma in the Nokia Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, and victory in the 2008 (2007 season) BCS National Championship Game versus the Ohio State Buckeyes with a 38–24 score, thus becoming the first team since the advent of the BCS to win multiple BCS national titles.

The LSU Tigers are the athletic teams of Louisiana State University, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They participate in the NCAA's Division I, in the Southeastern Conference. LSU fields teams in 14 varsity sports (5 men's, 7 women's, 2 coed). Its official team nickname is the Fighting Tigers and the school mascot is Mike the Tiger. The official school colors are purple and gold, although in actuality the "gold" color which appears on the university's sports uniforms is canary yellow. LSU's nickname is a throwback to its Confederate heritage and is drawn from the Civil War fame of a New Orleans infantry company, the "Tiger Rifles," who fought so fiercely in General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia that they, and eventually all other Louisiana troops, became known as "Louisiana Tigers."

Based on winning percentage, the University's athletics program is consistently one of the best in the nation. Its arenas include Tiger Stadium aka "Death Valley" (football), Pete Maravich Assembly Center (basketball, volleyball, gymnastics), Carl Maddox Fieldhouse (indoor track), Bernie Moore Stadium (outdoor track), Tiger Park (softball), and Alex Box Stadium (baseball). Important rivals in football include one of the longest running college football rivalries with the Ole Miss Rebels, and the Tulane Green Wave. Other rivals include the Alabama Crimson Tide, Arkansas Razorbacks, and the Auburn Tigers.