Championship chases, rally possums and underwhelming are just a few of the words associated with LSU athletics during the 2015-16 season. But if you dig deeper, it was better than some realize.
Look at football. The Tigers began the year with a promising 7-0 start, and sophomore running back Leonard Fournette was a Heisman contender. But it all fell apart in a three-game stretch with losses to Alabama, Arkansas and Ole Miss.
The losing streak had the Tiger faithful outraged and rumors circulated of coach Les Miles being fired.
Instead, Miles and company rallied to a gritty 19-7 win against Texas A&M, and LSU fans showed support for the head coach. Miles’ job was saved, and he stayed to coach a 12th season with the Tigers.
Fournette wasn’t the only superstar on campus.
LSU basketball brought in the No. 1 overall recruit in freshman forward Ben Simmons and was awarded its first preseason ranking since the 2006-07 season. The squad barely got out of the gate before hitting a snag.
After a 3-0 start against weaker opponents, the Tigers dropped four of five games to begin an up-and-down season. The team did not win more than three consecutive games throughout the year, while Simmons never took over as the dominant player people assumed he would become.
A turning point came against then-No. 1 Oklahoma. The Sooners entered the PMAC with the Tigers looking to find a spark. LSU led the top-ranked team 72-70 with 2:19 in the game, but couldn’t get the job done.
The Sooners hit a heart-breaking game winner with 3.8 seconds to claim the contest, 77-75.
After the Oklahoma loss, LSU finished the season 6-6, including a 71-38 loss to Texas A&M in the Southeastern Conference Tournament. The Tigers decided not to play in the postseason.
The women’s basketball team did not fare much better, recording its first losing season since the 1994-95 campaign. The squad started 3-1, but quickly lost its way. The women’s basketball team won just seven more games during the season, ending the year 10-21.
Tiger women’s golf followed suit with an abysmal campaign that saw them finish better than 10th only three times. The volleyball team got off to a 1-7 start and never recovered, finishing with a 9-20 record.
But it wasn’t all doom and gloom for LSU athletics.
After the infamous marsupial field storming, the baseball team was 18-3 entering the Super Regional. Despite the Rally Possum, baseball was upset by Coastal Carolina at home in the Super Regional round.
The softball, gymnastics, men’s golf, soccer and both tennis teams each reached the NCAA Championships for their respective sports.
Gymnastics was arguably the best team on campus this season with a 31-6 overall record and proved it from the beginning. The team received a No. 5 preseason ranking and opened with a victory against then-No. 1 Oklahoma at home.
Throughout the season, the Tigers were consistent and never dropped below No. 7 in the polls. They made their way into the Super Six and were National Runner ups, the sport’s highest finish in school history.
Softball overcame a difficult midseason stretch and reached the Women’s College World Series for the fifth time in school history. The team fought its way into the semifinal round before falling to Oklahoma, 7-3.
Both tennis squads and soccer had solid but average years.
Men’s tennis went 15-12, while the women were 19-12. Soccer finished 13-6-4, its first winning season in three years.
Soccer was blown out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in a 4-nil loss, while tennis saw both team’s seasons end in the second round of the tournament.
The lack of success in football and basketball will irk the Tiger faithful, but the showings from the rest of the teams proves the 2015-16 athletic campaign was not in vain.