LSU students should hold back a little on the complaints after their team’s 41-7 loss to Auburn last Saturday. Auburn students embarrassed them.
Auburn students packed their section Saturday night and stayed the entire game. And when I say “entire game,” I mean the full four quarters.
There seems to be some LSU students who don’t even know the fourth quarter exists.
Anybody from LSU who saw Auburn’s student section’s performance had to be perplexed. It was a student section that stayed loud the entire game, didn’t throw drinks after big plays and stayed in rhythm during the singing of the alma mater.
The question of whether LSU students would have stayed in a similar situation isn’t hypothetical — the answer came in 2013 against Auburn. Up 21 points at halftime against the eventual Southeastern Conference champion, most LSU students left the stadium in favor of their apartments or some righteous romp through Tigerland.
Some fans will claim they left because of the rain, but it’s because they didn’t care. LSU was blowing out a team that wasn’t supposed to do well that season. LSU fans didn’t need to spend all night in the stadium during garbage time when it could be spent back at a tailgate.
It’s not that LSU fans lack the passion of Auburn fans. Their teams just provided them with different expectations. LSU hasn’t recorded a losing season this millennium, and eventually, that type of dominance influences fans.
It’s a gradual process, but LSU has been at or near the top of college football for a few seasons. With constant excellence comes constant expectations, and it’s almost instinctive for LSU fans to want so much.
It’s almost like playing a video game — once you play the game enough and become dominant, it becomes boring. After 14 straight winning seasons, beating an unranked team wasn’t worth some fans’ undivided attention.
The excitement fans don’t show for wins is transformed into disappointment and vitriol for the losses. Some fans talk about their teams’ 10-win seasons like they’re cornerstones for the program. LSU fans typically talk about how it could have been an 11-win season.
The only obvious solution is to hit the reset button and experience a losing season, possibly an 0-8 season in conference. No LSU fan is hoping for this, but it is a necessary trauma to bring Tiger Stadium back to the days where fans filled the stands and showed excitement for the wins.
In the early 2000s, when LSU was still recovering from the Gerry DiNardo era and welcoming coach Nick Saban, there was more fervor in each of the Tigers’ victories. Fans were desperate to win again and had an unwavering need to be at the top.
That same desperation and need was seen in Auburn fans on Saturday. Before winning the SEC title last season, Auburn had gone 0-8 in the SEC in 2012. It was the program’s worst season in 60 years, and coach Gene Chizik was fired along with all of his assistants.
So maybe the losses that are expected to come this season can be seen in some positive light. Fans will temper their expectations if LSU loses enough, and they may stop acting spoiled.
Tiger Stadium has a reputation to uphold, and it’s time to stop being disgraced by other fan bases.
Tommy Romanach is a 22-year-old mass communication senior from Dallas, Texas. You can reach him on Twitter @troman_92.