Respect, prestige and dynasty are three small words that have been used throughout time to define some of the highest achieving sports teams. In the ’90s Michael Jordan revived a struggling Bulls squad by leading them to six NBA Championships to form what many sports enthusiasts refer to as the greatest dynasty in NBA history. After capturing three Superbowls in four years, coach Bill Belichick helped the New England Patriots earn league-wide respect after compiling a n11-1 playoff record. Although these two teams play in two different sports, one aspect of their championship runs remains the same: they gained respect and prestige and became known as “dynasties” by beating some of the best teams in their respective sports. After LSU’s 41-14 bashing of the University of Notre Dame on Jan. 3 in the Sugar Bowl, some may wonder, “Does beating a team that has won eight national titles and sent seven Heisman Trophy Award winners to the next level put the No. 3 LSU program at the top of college football?” According to WWL-TV Sports Director Jim Henderson, the impressive win does not help the program as much as some may believe. “I think most people are catching on to Notre Dame,” Henderson said. “They’ve lost nine straight bowl games now, and apart from a couple of games each year, they play a relatively weak schedule. I think the Notre Dame mystique is wearing thin on a lot of people, and more and more people are coming to realize that the [Southeastern Conference] plays the best football in the country year in and year out.” Henderson, 13-time winner of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association’s Louisiana Sportscaster of the Year Award, may have a point. Along with the nine consecutive bowl losses, the Fighting Irish have compiled a 19-29 record against ranked opponents since 1996. Henderson said that although the bowl game was big for the program, LSU has gained the respect of other NCAA coaches by playing consistently well in the nation’s toughest conference. “If you look at the SEC teams as a whole with what happened with Florida [in the Bowl Championship Series National Championship] and with how well LSU played in turning what should have been close games and games in which they were underdogs into big wins, it just shows you how strong the SEC is,” Henderson said. “They were nine-point favorites before the Notre Dame game, so it wasn’t a surprise that they beat them, but the way they beat them so one-sidedly and didn’t even allow it to become a contest after the first half was extremely impressive.”
LSU Athletic Director Skip Bertman agreed with Henderson and said that although the win was great for the program, the fact that LSU plays such high-quality competition gives this team more respect, attention and prestige than the win itself. Bertman also said the national championship game between the University of Florida and Ohio State University helped this program more than the 27-point Sugar Bowl win. “Certainly over 20 million [people] saw the Southeastern Conference stomp the Big 10,” Bertman said. “And that was good for LSU and the other SEC schools. We are the best conference in the country, and that verified it. Now because LSU is part of the SEC and evidently the second-best team in the conference, that gives us more credibility than beating Notre Dame.” Although both Bertman and Henderson said the win does not add much to the respect and attention LSU has gained since their National Championship, the win against No. 17 Notre Dame marked the first time in LSU’s 110-year football history that the team has compiled a two-year record of 22-4, according to Bertman. LSU senior safety LaRon Landry had a different opinion on the win and added that Notre Dame’s past never played a factor in the team’s preparation. “This was a big win for the program,” Landry said. “It was big because we were going up against Heisman Trophy candidate Brady Quinn, Notre Dame had all the hype behind them and also because it shows we can play with a nationally ranked team. We knew their past, and it was good for us to beat a program like that, but we never go into a game – big or small – and say, ‘Well our opponent has done this, and our opponent has done that.'” Although the views of Landry, Bertman and Henderson may differ, one aspect all three agreed upon was that the national championship win in 2003 brought the LSU program to a new level. The respect, prestige and attention brought on by the win put the Tigers into the national spotlight. “I don’t think LSU needs [the Sugar Bowl win] to gain respect,” WWL-TV sports reporter Juan Kincaid said. “I think they already have the respect of the national writers and the national media and the people around the country.” Kincaid said the win against the Fighting Irish was a good moment for Louisiana, but LSU’s program has been on the rise since before its 2003 national title. “It was a big win because of the situation of the moment,” Kincaid said. “You have the Sugar Bowl – it was against Notre Dame – but at the same time you put these two teams on paper, and LSU is far head and shoulders above Notre Dame as far as the quality of program. Notre Dame is trying to get where LSU is now. LSU is where Notre Dame use to be – a team that can compete for a national championship.”
—–Contact Jay St. Pierre at [email protected]