At the end of the 1999 season, LSU fans had little to cheer about with regards to their football program. The Tigers were coming off a 3-8 season with one Southeastern Conference win and an incoming recruiting class in 2000 ranked in the 60s nationally.
Four years later, the Tigers are 11-1, ranked No. 3, headed to the SEC Championship Game and have a chance to play in the Nokia Sugar Bowl for the national championship.
“If somebody would have told me that when I was a freshman, I would not have totally believed it,” said fifth-year senior offensive tackle Rodney Reed. “This program didn’t know how to win then.”
Senior guard Stephen Peterman was a part of the 2000 signing class and said a combination of the coaching ability of Nick Saban and the hard work of the players have brought the Tigers out of the perennial inconsistencies so often displayed at LSU. And now the Tigers have a chance to win their second SEC title in three years.
“This is hard to believe,” Peterman said. “Every time you start the season, you have a goal to win a championship. Sometimes you don’t have the talent and don’t really have a chance to do it. We have a chance to win our second SEC Championship since I’ve been here.”
In Saban’s second year as the Tigers’ head coach in 2001, he led LSU to its first SEC title since 1988 with the help of a high-octane offense led by Rohan Davey and Josh Reed.
“It was unbelievable,” Peterman said of the Tigers’ 31-20 win against Tennessee in the 2001 SEC Championship Game. “We beat a Tennessee team that had one of the best defenses in the history of the SEC. It was an unbelievable memory and hopefully the best is yet to come.”
Strong safety Jack Hunt, another 2000 signee, said if somebody were to have told him as a freshman that the Tigers would be in this position by the end of his senior season, he would have thought it was possible.
“Possible, not likely. But possible,” Hunt said. “It feels good to be in this position, but I haven’t taken it all in yet. I’m trying to stay focused, but at the same time I want to enjoy it and let it sink in later.”
Junior defensive end Marquise Hill said playing in the SEC Championship game and having the opportunity to win a national title are some of the reasons he came to LSU.
“This all means that some of my dreams are coming true,” Hill said. “I wanted to help build an LSU dynasty. With us winning so much some of that stuff has come true. I don’t know if we have a dynasty, but we’re winning.”