Former LSU coach Paul Dietzel had trouble comparing the 1958 national championship team with this season’s championship team.
Not because the two teams lacked dominance, but because the athletes of both eras are so hard to compare.
“Someone asked me, ‘Well how do you think your team would do against this team?'” Dietzel said. “That’s an impossible thing to judge because as I say, it’s a different era.”
The 2003 Tigers had a remarkably different style of play, particularly on offense. Teams of the 1950s relied on a running game and rarely passed.
The Nick Saban-led Tigers featured four or five receivers — Michael Clayton, Devery Henderson, Skyler Green and freshmen Dwayne Bowe and Craig Davis — who often played in the same formations and were on the field at the same time. LSU finished with more than 2,000 passing yards in 2003.
“In the first place, if somebody had lined up with four wideouts in 1958, we would have had to call timeout and say ‘What the heck are they doing, have they gone crazy?’,” Dietzel said. “We would never see the kind of football that you see now. The game has become very wide open.
The passing game has become much more of an integral part of the game. Then, the passing game was something that tied in with your running game. But you didn’t depend on your passing game to win football games.”
Dietezel also compared the players’ behavior off the field.
“I think one thing about it that is comparable is the fact that this team seemed to never have any problems that a lot of teams have during this time off the field,” he said. “In other words, you didn’t read a lot about someone being down on the police block. In the 1950s, we just never had any problems off the field.”
Things were different on the defensive side of the ball as well, but it still helped win champioinships. The Tigers were ranked No. 1 in defense for most of 2003, and held the Oklahoma Sooners to 154 yards in the Nokia Sugar Bowl en route to a 21-14 win.
“Defense was a big factor both times. However, to try to compare the team we had then with the team that just won the national championship — and deservedly did — [is difficult],” Dietzel said. “Everything has changed. First of all, the size of the players has changed dramatically. We had one tackle on our team that weighed 235 pounds, and he was biggest player on our team. The second largest was Billy Cannon at 210 [pounds]. Most of the team was right around 200 pounds, but we had tremendous speed. The main we had was the strength and speed.”
Despite the fact the players were smaller in 1958, Dietzel helped lead the 1958 Tigers to the first undefeated, untied season in school history.
In Dietzel’s three previous seasons with LSU, the Tigers finished 3-5-2, 3-7 and 5-5. After losing to Ole Miss in 1957, Dietzel said the coaching staff realized it could not compete in the Southeastern Conference with one squad of players.
So in the spring of 1958, Dietzel implemented the three-team system — the White team, the Gold team and the Chinese Bandits.
LSU’s White team comprised the best 11 athletes on the team. This included players such as Heisman trophy winner Billy Cannon and quarterback Warren Rabb. The Gold team, which later became known as the Go team, was made up of the 11 best offensive players.
The Chinese Bandits, whom Dietzel named after a comic strip he once read, were made up of LSU’s 11 best defensive players. Dietzel said the Bandits probably game him as much pleasure as any group he has been associated with as a coach.
Quarterback Warren Rabb led the ’58 Tigers into battle. Rabb completed 45-of-90 passes for 591 yards, 8 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. Comparably, the ’03 Tigers’ quarterback Matt Mauck had 2,825 yards and 28 touchdowns on 229-of-328 passing.
Despite the numbers difference, Dietzel said Mauck and Rabb have similar styles.
“[Matt] Mauck really kind of reminds me of Warren Rabb,” Dietzel said. “Mauck is a little bit larger than Rabb was then, not bigger than Rabb is now, by the way. Warren was a real fine passer, but he was also a fine runner — and he knew when to run. He was so effective. As a matter of fact, Warren called his own plays. Warren was a very, very smart player.”
After the Tigers defeated Florida 10-7 in Homecoming of 1958, LSU reached No. 1 in the AP poll. The team was 6-0 heading into the annual Ole Miss rivalry.
Behind LSU’s first sell-out crowd in history and a three-team system, the Tigers were able to defeat No. 6 Ole Miss 14-0 for the first time since 1950.
The win propelled the Tigers the rest of the ’58
season. LSU outscored its opponents 119-24 in its final three contests, including a 62-0 drubbing of in-state rival Tulane in the season finale.
The Tigers finished the season 10-0 and were declared national champions at seasons’ end.
The icing on the cake came Jan. 1, 1959, when the Tigers earned their first Sugar Bowl victory in team history. LSU defeated Clemson 7-0 on a Cannon touchdown pass to Mickey Mangham in the third quarter.
Dietzel finished with a 46-24-3 record in seven seasons at LSU with two SEC championships. Saban, his championship counterpart, is 39-13 in four seasons with the Tigers and also has two SEC titles. Deitzel praised Saban’s job while at LSU.
“He’s done a fantastic job, there’s no question about that,” Dietzel said. “I think he’s done a great job recruiting. He’s also done a great job with working on the academic side of it, which is a very fine thing. Mothers and fathers like to know that their sons are going to get an education. It’s nice to get yourself ready to play in the pros. But even the guys playing in the pros sometime may have to quit playing in the pros and earn a living for the rest of their lives.”