Thousands of Tiger fans rushed to the streets outside of Tiger Stadium to experience the LSU football team’s National Championship parade on Saturday.
The parade went in typical Louisiana fashion with beads thrown, Tiger chants screamed, signs thrusted into the air and classic songs from gamedays played by the Parish County Line band. When the cheerleaders, Golden Girls and marching band came down the route to start the parade, everyone was reminded of the season they already miss and were prepared to see the 2019 team together one final time.
As usual, there were some crazy moments on the parade route, with Mike the Tiger dressed as a goat, players smoking fake plastic cigars on floats and even fans climbing trees on campus to get a better look at the champions.
Once Coach Ed Orgeron and the players came through, the fans went crazy, especially for quarterback Joe Burrow. Some fans were nearly crying with excitement when they caught a bead thrown from the Heisman winner’s hands.
For lifelong Tiger fans, including Michelle Harrison, watching the Tigers dominate college football all year was the perfect excuse to get together with friends and unwind at the parade today.
“Having time with family and friends and just enjoying every moment of being a fan for the greatest team was the highlight of my year,” Harrison said, almost as if speaking for the rest of the Tiger nation.
The last time the Tigers were on the biggest stage in college football was 2011 when they lost the BCS National Championship game to Alabama. The last time the team took the National Championship trophy home was over ten years ago in 2007. Despite 2019 being the fourth time the Tigers became national champions, this year’s team surpassed all the teams that came before them in the eyes of many Tiger fans.
The 2019 Tigers’ success not only has major implications for the football program; they also changed college football history. Along with all the broken records and awards won by individual players, including Burrow’s record breaking, landslide Heisman win, there were many records broken by the team. The Tigers went 15-0 this season, marking the first time in SEC history a team has done so. This also marks the first time a team beat 7 top 10 AP Poll teams at the time of the meeting, and also the first time a team beat the top 4 preseason AP poll teams.
The parade was the perfect way to end a perfect season. As the Tigers enter the arguments for the greatest college team ever, lifelong fans celebrated the memories that were held all along the parade route on campus as chants of “Geaux Tigers” filled the air.