Tuscaloosa

if you have a group look into VRBO/AirBNB. Did that for Ole MIss game and it worked out perfectly.

if you are coming from Louisiana I would almost say Meridian. 90 miles away.

There is literally a dead zone between Tuscaloosa and Meridian. Almost nothing there.

Another option if they don't have a game that weekend is Starkville Ms. that is only 90 miles the road.

Montgomery is further away but if you and group play golf you hit up one of the fes RTJ courses near there. Yall can get a round in on Friday and then head up casually on Saturday.

Meridian (from BR)
3.5 hours to Meridian
1.5 hours to Tuscaloosa
1.5 hours to Meridian
3.5 hours to BR
10 total hours

Birmingham
6 hours to Bham
1 hour to Tuscaloosa
1 hour to Bham
6 hours to BR.
14 total hours.

Also these numbers are going to be off because depending on when you leave Tuscaloosa it could take you 3 hours to get back to Birmingham with traffic/construction.

ETA: For those reasons alone I'd choose Meridian. Birmingham would be a more "fun" place to stay but I see no reason to drive that extra time if you're just looking for a close place to sleep.

May want to look into gameday condo rentals (AirBNB and other options) in Tuscaloosa too. Seems to be a pretty underutilized way to get a good deal on a nice place to stay in town. Especially with the current state of the multihousing market in Tuscaloosa, there are a lot of empty condos people are trying to rent for gamedays. May be booked up since it is LSU but I'd at least check.

I'd never consider going east of Tuscaloosa, especially coming in from the west. Traffic up I 59 back to Birmingham after an Alabama game this year is especially horrible. There is road construction that way that you just don't need to get yourself involved with. Seriously, you could make it back to Laurel, MS before you make it to Birmingham after the game.