What was it exactly? Let's go back in time...
A lot of people joke (or not?) that the reason Jackie's reign collapsed is because of September 11, 2001. The "Pearl Harbor connection" as I like to call it, given in 1941 we could've been awarded a national title legitimately by AP if our boys didn't decide to volunteer after the attack. Noble it was, and God bless them for doing it. 2001 started with us doing what we had done the past several seasons: beating Memphis in one of our first two games. Then along comes 9/11, and really the whole country is just thrown out of its routine. We were supposed to have BYU in town the next week, returning for our home and home against them as we went to Provo the year before and won handily. Instead, we ended up getting to be the first host of a football game nationally after the attack. The year spiraled out of control.
I think we need to go back a year though. We lost "it" a year before I think. The 2000 LSU game.
Fresh off destroying a then top 5 Florida team at home. Widely considered one of the greatest victories some of us younger (at the time) bulldogs have ever known. It wasn't just that we beat Florida...it wasn't close. The score shows we won by 12, but that's also with a game ending touchdown by the gators. We had 2 safeties. Visors were flying everywhere. Spurrier played 3 different QBs including Sexy Rexy Grossman. 3rd and 57. We ran for billions of yards. The naysayers from the 8-0 start the year before said we had a good record because we hadn't played Florida or Tennessee or even Georgia. We shut them the 17 up.
We followed the next week by beating Auburn for what seemed to be the twentieth year in a row, even with them being ranked. It was becoming a trend, beating Auburn. We liked that (of course).
Sure we had a major hiccup in Carolina week 3. We had let a 3rd string quarterback beat us on a fade route against one of our highly touted defensive backs...but that whole game just didn't feel right. Here we were, ranked, coming off an amazing season where we started 8-0. Carolina is coming off a *winless* season. Matter of fact, they won their opener the year before in 98 and lost out while we were busy winning the SEC west. Yeah, they had beaten an overrated Georgia team at home, but that wasn't about to happen to us. It was not to be though, as our crazy start from the previous year was not going to be matched. Our next 2 weeks we showed we were going to be a force to be reckoned with.
We still had very high hopes. In those days, I'd check out the computer rankings every week to see where we were. Some of them in 99 put us all the way up to #3, so it was only right we check them this year too. And why not? A 1 loss team could easily make the national title game or a BCS game. At worst, we could for sure lose a game and make it back to Atlanta. We believed we could win out. The possibility sure was there....after all, everyone else on our schedule we had beaten in the last 3 seasons at least 1 year. There was definitely the chance it could happen. We still felt like we had that magic to us when we stepped on the field like we did in '99. There was this feeling that we could beat absolutely anybody; we wanted a shot at the big boys.
When looking at the game on the surface, it looked like we easily had the edge. We had finally gotten over the hump on LSU the year before, on a very controversial touchdown call and we defeated them 17-16 for the first time since 1991, Jackie's first year; coincidentally, 91 was also the last year we had won in Baton Rouge. 99 was DiNardo's last season as he was canned for a 2-8 start. After 1999, LSU hired Nick Saban as their new head coach.
LSU leading up to the game was 4-3 including a double-digit loss to Auburn and a blowout vs Florida, two teams we had defeated the prior two weeks with relative ease. LSU's 3rd loss was to an awful UAB team at home for homecoming. LSU *had* beaten a #11 Tennessee Vols team at home, but they ended up losing the next week to UGA and fell out of the top 25 altogether. The win over UT at that point had seemed fairly insignificant; an upset for sure, but nothing to write home about.
The game itself started off well for us. Anytime you get an 82 yard touchdown pass on the second play from scrimmage, that's usually a good start. LSU answered with 2 scores to take the lead, 14-7.
The second and 3rd quarter were ours. We went on to outscore them 24-3 in that stretch. We even had the lead for a good part of the game and at one point we were up 2 TDs.
However, LSU's offensive gameplan was a balanced attack with ball control. It worked very well. They seemed to have the ball the whole damn game in spite of us having the lead. Our defense, considered the strength of our team, even with depth was very tired by the end of the game. Their offensive line really worked us down. They blew us up off the ball no matter who we had in there. When the 4th quarter came around, LSU imposed their will on us. They scored 3 unanswered touchdowns to take the lead. Even with all of that, Madkin and company drove us down and got a touchdown with 2 minutes left to tie it up and send it to OT.
Then in overtime, LSU scored first possession with ease. On a 4th and 2, Madkin tried to run for the first down but ended up short and that was the ballgame.
I remember the announcers noting that it seemed like a passing of the torch in the 4th quarter the way LSU was driving on us. They meant the game, but really it ended up being program directions.
In the coming weeks, we'd beat Alabama, MTSU, and Kentucky. With those wins, all we needed was to beat Arkansas and Ole Miss and we'd win a tiebreaker over Auburn and go back to Atlanta. We even got all the way back up to #13. After the LSU game though, there was something missing from our team. MTSU ended up putting 35 on our vaunted defense and had loads of yards. It was a very forgettable game even with us scoring 61. Kentucky was not good that year really. And Alabama only won 3 games all year. After those 3 games, we lost another overtime game on the road to Arkansas, and Duece McAllister ran all over us in the egg bowl. We ended the season with a great game against A&M in Shreveport, almost as a last dash of what we had the previous 2 years. It could be why many hold that game to be so dear.
In 2000, we beat back to back ranked teams, and both were in the top 15. We have one top 15 win since then (that I can think of), a win over a fairly good Kentucky team in 2007 that had beaten LSU a few weeks prior, but they ended up being an 8 win team, not a top 15 team.
What did we lose down there? Our magic? Our mojo? I'm not sure what to call it, but in the following years, LSU got much better under Saban. They won the SEC in 2001, the west in 02, and a national title in 03. Meanwhile we sucked in 01, 02, and went 2-10 in 03, with Jackie stepping down and us hiring Croom.
We've had many beatdowns from LSU since then. Including 3 shutouts that totalled 138-0. Many games I just sat, watched, and even laughed at the hilarity of us trying to play those damn coonasses.
We've had some *somewhat* close calls too. Who knows what happens if Ducre catches that ball in 08 when he's wide open down the sideline.
Or if we pitch it to Dixon in 09.
We were even doing well in 2012 and had the game within 3 points in the 3rd quarter until the wheels fell off.
Same thing happened last year; 2 point game in the 3rd quarter until we let it get away from us.
Last year Dak started for us...days after his mother passed. He still strapped up and played very well for our cause.
Now Dak will return to Louisiana, his original home, to play for his new home. He'll have his family and friends there for him, and his mother watching over him.
We're bringing our defense that got torched last year in this game. It was easily their worst performance all year. If they aren't hungry to show they are better, I don't know what else they need.
Let's go back down there and take back what we lost all those years ago.
A lot of people joke (or not?) that the reason Jackie's reign collapsed is because of September 11, 2001. The "Pearl Harbor connection" as I like to call it, given in 1941 we could've been awarded a national title legitimately by AP if our boys didn't decide to volunteer after the attack. Noble it was, and God bless them for doing it. 2001 started with us doing what we had done the past several seasons: beating Memphis in one of our first two games. Then along comes 9/11, and really the whole country is just thrown out of its routine. We were supposed to have BYU in town the next week, returning for our home and home against them as we went to Provo the year before and won handily. Instead, we ended up getting to be the first host of a football game nationally after the attack. The year spiraled out of control.
I think we need to go back a year though. We lost "it" a year before I think. The 2000 LSU game.
Fresh off destroying a then top 5 Florida team at home. Widely considered one of the greatest victories some of us younger (at the time) bulldogs have ever known. It wasn't just that we beat Florida...it wasn't close. The score shows we won by 12, but that's also with a game ending touchdown by the gators. We had 2 safeties. Visors were flying everywhere. Spurrier played 3 different QBs including Sexy Rexy Grossman. 3rd and 57. We ran for billions of yards. The naysayers from the 8-0 start the year before said we had a good record because we hadn't played Florida or Tennessee or even Georgia. We shut them the 17 up.
We followed the next week by beating Auburn for what seemed to be the twentieth year in a row, even with them being ranked. It was becoming a trend, beating Auburn. We liked that (of course).
Sure we had a major hiccup in Carolina week 3. We had let a 3rd string quarterback beat us on a fade route against one of our highly touted defensive backs...but that whole game just didn't feel right. Here we were, ranked, coming off an amazing season where we started 8-0. Carolina is coming off a *winless* season. Matter of fact, they won their opener the year before in 98 and lost out while we were busy winning the SEC west. Yeah, they had beaten an overrated Georgia team at home, but that wasn't about to happen to us. It was not to be though, as our crazy start from the previous year was not going to be matched. Our next 2 weeks we showed we were going to be a force to be reckoned with.
We still had very high hopes. In those days, I'd check out the computer rankings every week to see where we were. Some of them in 99 put us all the way up to #3, so it was only right we check them this year too. And why not? A 1 loss team could easily make the national title game or a BCS game. At worst, we could for sure lose a game and make it back to Atlanta. We believed we could win out. The possibility sure was there....after all, everyone else on our schedule we had beaten in the last 3 seasons at least 1 year. There was definitely the chance it could happen. We still felt like we had that magic to us when we stepped on the field like we did in '99. There was this feeling that we could beat absolutely anybody; we wanted a shot at the big boys.
When looking at the game on the surface, it looked like we easily had the edge. We had finally gotten over the hump on LSU the year before, on a very controversial touchdown call and we defeated them 17-16 for the first time since 1991, Jackie's first year; coincidentally, 91 was also the last year we had won in Baton Rouge. 99 was DiNardo's last season as he was canned for a 2-8 start. After 1999, LSU hired Nick Saban as their new head coach.
LSU leading up to the game was 4-3 including a double-digit loss to Auburn and a blowout vs Florida, two teams we had defeated the prior two weeks with relative ease. LSU's 3rd loss was to an awful UAB team at home for homecoming. LSU *had* beaten a #11 Tennessee Vols team at home, but they ended up losing the next week to UGA and fell out of the top 25 altogether. The win over UT at that point had seemed fairly insignificant; an upset for sure, but nothing to write home about.
The game itself started off well for us. Anytime you get an 82 yard touchdown pass on the second play from scrimmage, that's usually a good start. LSU answered with 2 scores to take the lead, 14-7.
The second and 3rd quarter were ours. We went on to outscore them 24-3 in that stretch. We even had the lead for a good part of the game and at one point we were up 2 TDs.
However, LSU's offensive gameplan was a balanced attack with ball control. It worked very well. They seemed to have the ball the whole damn game in spite of us having the lead. Our defense, considered the strength of our team, even with depth was very tired by the end of the game. Their offensive line really worked us down. They blew us up off the ball no matter who we had in there. When the 4th quarter came around, LSU imposed their will on us. They scored 3 unanswered touchdowns to take the lead. Even with all of that, Madkin and company drove us down and got a touchdown with 2 minutes left to tie it up and send it to OT.
Then in overtime, LSU scored first possession with ease. On a 4th and 2, Madkin tried to run for the first down but ended up short and that was the ballgame.
I remember the announcers noting that it seemed like a passing of the torch in the 4th quarter the way LSU was driving on us. They meant the game, but really it ended up being program directions.
In the coming weeks, we'd beat Alabama, MTSU, and Kentucky. With those wins, all we needed was to beat Arkansas and Ole Miss and we'd win a tiebreaker over Auburn and go back to Atlanta. We even got all the way back up to #13. After the LSU game though, there was something missing from our team. MTSU ended up putting 35 on our vaunted defense and had loads of yards. It was a very forgettable game even with us scoring 61. Kentucky was not good that year really. And Alabama only won 3 games all year. After those 3 games, we lost another overtime game on the road to Arkansas, and Duece McAllister ran all over us in the egg bowl. We ended the season with a great game against A&M in Shreveport, almost as a last dash of what we had the previous 2 years. It could be why many hold that game to be so dear.
In 2000, we beat back to back ranked teams, and both were in the top 15. We have one top 15 win since then (that I can think of), a win over a fairly good Kentucky team in 2007 that had beaten LSU a few weeks prior, but they ended up being an 8 win team, not a top 15 team.
What did we lose down there? Our magic? Our mojo? I'm not sure what to call it, but in the following years, LSU got much better under Saban. They won the SEC in 2001, the west in 02, and a national title in 03. Meanwhile we sucked in 01, 02, and went 2-10 in 03, with Jackie stepping down and us hiring Croom.
We've had many beatdowns from LSU since then. Including 3 shutouts that totalled 138-0. Many games I just sat, watched, and even laughed at the hilarity of us trying to play those damn coonasses.
We've had some *somewhat* close calls too. Who knows what happens if Ducre catches that ball in 08 when he's wide open down the sideline.
Or if we pitch it to Dixon in 09.
We were even doing well in 2012 and had the game within 3 points in the 3rd quarter until the wheels fell off.
Same thing happened last year; 2 point game in the 3rd quarter until we let it get away from us.
Last year Dak started for us...days after his mother passed. He still strapped up and played very well for our cause.
Now Dak will return to Louisiana, his original home, to play for his new home. He'll have his family and friends there for him, and his mother watching over him.
We're bringing our defense that got torched last year in this game. It was easily their worst performance all year. If they aren't hungry to show they are better, I don't know what else they need.
Let's go back down there and take back what we lost all those years ago.
