re: Question about the 1977 LSU-Bama game

A couple of things already mentioned:

Legion Field in Birmingham switched to artificial turf in 1970, and from this point on, they did not decorate the end zones or any part of the field.

The Alabama at LSU game in 1977 was the first day game in Tiger Stadium since the Tigers hosted Auburn for Homecoming, in 1969.

For most games, but not all, the South end zone was decorated with the letters of the opponent (for example, "UA" in large letters for Alabama). For most games in the early to mid-1970's this was done, but I don't think all home games. Sometimes, they would just put LSU in both end zones and simply reverse the color pattern (for example, gold letters on purple background in one end zone, and purple letters on gold background in the other).

For TV games, they usually decorated the field by making every 5 yard block darker than the next 5 yard block. Sometimes, a sort of SEC emblem or square color pattern was used at midfield.