I still remember my most crushing game watching LSU, 1963 vs. Ole Miss. Ole Miss won 37-3. Still hurts. My world changed, in my young life to that point (i was 11), LSU was always competitive and was much more likely to pull an upset than to be upset. I had never seen a day when NOTHING went right. I didn't remember this, but Joe Labruzzo returned a punt 81 yards, only to be tackled at the 1 yd. line by OM guard Stan Hindman!!! I guess that's where we picked up our 3 pts. 1963 LSU Fighting Tigers Football rosters, game schedules, photos, articles, and videos | Fanbase
this, it wasn't Howard's fault we were passing the ball with a 3 TD lead. Plain stupid on the coaching staff ....... by the way, the worst loss, USC in '79 ....... the worst that ever happened to LSU football was going 9-1 in '69 and after accepting an Cotton bowl invitation to play undefeated Texas, getting dropped so Notre Dame could play that year. A LSU team, the no. 1 ranked defense, didn't play in a bowl game. All the invitations were already sent out.o: By the way, we would have beaten Texas and had another NC .....
I was there - and yes it sucked real bad. And the crowd was just as you described. It's one of those losses that never goes away.
Talk about talent, there was a joke by Dick Vitel that the no. 1 rank was our 1st string and no.2 was our 2nd string. Just pitiful how we played during those couple of years. I remember Christian Latner just schooling Shaq. He would hit the 3 and make Shaq come out to guard him then he would beat him inside to the basket. Dale Brown had no answer.
So, we got a bid to the Cotton Bowl, then had it rescinded just so ND could play Texas? Then didn't get another bid? What a bunch of BS. '69 was before my time, so I never knew about this. If this is true, I'll bet the coaches and players were livid, not to mention the fans. Wonder why one of the other bowls didn't just rescind their invitations so a damn good 9-1 LSU team that traveled well could play?
That '69 Cotton Bowl nonsense still chaps my dad's hide. He'll mention, "That time Texas ducked us and robbed us of beating them for a national championship."
This is why you cannot be an LSU fan and a Notre Dame fan. The Domers are to be hated by us in all sports. If something bad happens to Notre Dame, we should feel the same way we do when al queda accidently sets off an IED and kills everybody within 100 yards.
I remember it well, and things were different then. Some bowls had conference affiliations that were locked in, like the Rose had the PAC-8 champ against the Big Ten champ every year. Orange took the Big 8 champ (Okla. or Neb. usually), Cotton took the now-defunct Southwest Conf. champ. (often Texas or Arky). Sugar usually took the SEC champ, but I don't think it was a contract like the Rose had. There was a day, and prior to the day no bowl bids could be extended officially. But, bowl committees "talked" informally, and it was understood that deals were done, but not official until after the bowl invitation day. LSU informally agreed to play in the Cotton against Tx., best rushing defense against a monster wishbone attack. Now in those days, ND did not go to bowl games, I don't know why. Without a conference (read, "no revenue sharing"), they finally decided to go to a bowl, and they so announced they would accept a bowl invite. The Cotton decided to jump on ND first ever bowl appearance, looking like that would generate better TV ratings for TX/ND than TX/LSU, greater national appeal. They informally notified LSU they would invite ND. But all the other major bowls had made their informal agreements and they would not change to invite LSU. LSU did get an invite to the Peach Bowl (if I remember correct), but as I recall the players voted they did not want to play in a minor bowl (imagine the AD letting the players vote today?). So, LSU sat home, 9-1, I think their loss was to Archie Manning led Ole Miss (checked it, yep it was Ole Miss, 26-23, the week after our huge win over Auburn 21-20). So, they had a gentleman's agreement, which the Cotton Bowl broke when ND announced they would accept their first bowl bid ever. I don't hate ND over the deal, they just changed their policy (a little late, but their prerogative). I fault the Cotton Bowl committee for reaching a gentleman's agreement, then welshing on the deal.
Don't think for a moment that ND didn't have this duck lined up before they decided to "change their mind".
the '96 Bama game. thought for sure we was gonna win that game. Herb went down early, and Sparacino came in and proceeded to have possibly the worst game I've ever seen a qb have at any level. 8 for 35 no tds, 2 picks Shaun Alexander put up more yards and TDs in 3 qtrs than he did the entire rest of the season combined. 20 carries for 291 and 4 tds. i contemplated suicide that night.
