In the afterglow of the Tigers’ first national championship since 1958, one can’t help but think about how far this LSU football team has come in the past 12 months.
Around this time last year, the talks were not of a national championship but of how Texas manhandled the Tigers 35-20 in the Cotton Bowl and how LSU blew the Southeastern Conference Western Division to Arkansas. The focus was shifted more to the LSU men’s and women’s basketball teams and the start of baseball and softball.
LSU did have a consensus top 3 recruiting class, highlighted by the signings of blue chipers JaMarcus Russell and Matt Flynn, but even going into the spring and summer there were many questions as to how good the 2003 Tigers would truly be.
Would starting quarterback Matt Mauck be able to rebound from a near career-ending foot injury? Would LSU be able to find a running game without the presence of Domanick Davis and LaBrandon Toefield, who both went in the NFL draft? Would the Tigers be able to fill the holes on defense left by star linebacker Bradie James? How would the Tigers avoid another late-season collapse like the year before?
At a midsummer press gathering, coach Nick Saban addressed questions regarding the team. He said the coaching staff expected good things out of the offensive unit because of the returning veterans. His main concerns, as always, were on defense. Through the first seven games of 2002, the Tigers boasted the No. 1 defense in the nation before injuries and key player departures devastated the unit and they limped to a 2-4 finish.
But the fireworks really began when a reporter asked Saban who the leaders would be on the team.
Saban responded that he wasn’t looking for leaders and that he was expecting each member of the team to dig deep within himself and provide leadership. Saban said sheep need to be led and he wasn’t looking for sheep. He was looking for wolves. He was looking for the Tigers to establish their own identity as a hungry, dominant, plays-for-60-minutes football team.
The Tigers showed early in the season they had accepted Saban’s challenge to establish an identity. Starting the season with wins over ULM, Arizona and Western Illinois, the Tigers came into the SEC opener against Georgia looking to show who they were. And before a national television audience and ESPN GameDay, the Tigers beat the defending SEC champs 17-10 and moved into the Top 10 in both polls, a spot they would not relinquish all season.
The Tigers’ true test of grit and maturity came three weeks later, however, when LSU laid an egg in Tiger Stadium against Florida, 19-7. At the time, it seemed like any dreams of a national championship were gone. At 6-1, there was still hope for the SEC West crown and a slight chance at the national championship, but it was clear the Tigers needed to win out to have any shot.
And they did. The Tigers bought into what Saban had been saying. This game is the most important game because it’s the one this week. What’s important is what is, not what was. LSU handily beat South Carolina, Auburn, Louisiana Tech and Alabama to set up a SEC Western Division showdown with Ole Miss, who was 6-0 in the SEC at that time. After Mauck’s first pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown, the Tigers rebounded and willed themselves to a 17-14 win in a hostile Oxford environment and overcame a lot of adversity.
The same was true the next week against Arkansas. The Tigers fell into an early 7-0 hole and were in a 17-17 game against the Razorbacks before scoring 38 unanswered points and winning 55-24.
That win put the Tigers in the SEC championship and a rematch against Georgia. For most of the week, the Tigers only heard how lucky they were to beat Georgia in the first game. This time it would be different, especially in the Georgia Dome.
And it was different because this time it wasn’t close. LSU whipped Georgia 34-13 and combined with Oklahoma’s loss to Kansas State and other BCS-deciding games, the 12-1 Tigers found themselves in the national championship game.
In the end after all the preseason questions had been answered, Saban said this team was the most resilient and had the best team chemistry, competitive spirit and character he has ever been around.
“We started out this year saying that we might not have the leadership that we need and we challenged everybody to be responsible for their own self-determination,” Saban said after the Sugar Bowl. “And I have never seen a group of players that we are able to do that and become so close and unified in the way they did it. They believed in themselves, they believed in each other and this game was no different than a lot of other games we played this year.
“They have tremendous character and confidence and know how to compete. And that’s how you’ve got to compete. You’ve got to overcome adversity.” And that, Saban said, is the reason why LSU is the national champion.