The Daily Advertiser - One Team, One Heartbeat: LSUs Remarkable Road to the National Championship

Safety Grant Delpit admires the national championship trophy after LSU defeated Clemson at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. (Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports)

Contents

Chuck Cook/USA TODAY Sports

Foreword by Bunnie Cannon

I have heard the 1958 Fighting Tigers 11-0 national championship football season called magical and perfect. It was the first time in 22 years that LSU won the Southeastern Conference championship; the first time in 50 years it had gone undefeated. The 1958 Tigers were a special, close-knit team, the likes of which have not been seen again at LSU until this season.

The similarities between the two teams are borderline cosmic. Each team started the season under fairly new head coaches. Paul Dietzel was entering his fourth season in 1958. Ed Orgeron was also entering his fourth season, if you count 2016 when he was interim head coach. Each team held a super power, a special player who unified their squads. In 1958, it was my dad, tailback Billy Cannon. In 2019, it was quarterback Joe Burrow. Both players would win the coveted Heisman Trophy, and as a result become iconic heroes at LSU, in Louisiana and nationally.

Interestingly, Burrow visited LSU to consider a graduate transfer from Ohio State just a week before Cannon passed away peacefully on May 20, 2018, at age 80. Did the famed No. 20 know Burrow was coming? Probably so, because he knew most things related to LSU football before they happened. On that day, he passed the torch and went home.

My dad always wanted to share the Heisman Trophy with another Tiger. On several occasions he thought he would quarterback Bert Jones in 1972, quarterback Tommy Hodson in 1988 and 1989, defensive back Tyrann Mathieu in 2011 and tailback Leonard Fournette in 2015. When he was introduced as LSUs only Heisman trophy winner, his response was always, Yet! Yet is now.

The LSU Tigers gather around senior Stephen Sullivan for the pre-game huddle in New Orleans. (Stephen Lew/USA TODAY Sports)

There would have been no one happier than my dad that Burrow now shares the honor of winning the Heisman. Burrow is an incredibly gifted, hard-working young man with an incredibly grounded family and support system. There is no one more deserving to carry the torch for LSU.

No. 20 would have been so happy to see the accolades of the 2019 Tigers.

Football was such a big part of my dads life, especially in his golden years. He was a master of the game, and he studied it. He would be amazed at how well the 2019 Tigers talent has developed the speed and agility of JaMarr Chase and Justin Jefferson at wide receiver, the power and perseverance of Clyde Edwards-Helaire at tailback, or the passion of Breiden Fehoko and Rashard Lawrence on the defensive line. I wish my dad were here so I could have heard his commentary on this magnificent team.

Another factor that both teams seem to have is the camaraderie between players and coaches. Cannon would have been so supportive and proud of Coach Orgeron, offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger and the entire coaching staff for all they have done to work with this amazing team.

Orgeron has overcome adversity in his career and has finally acquired his dream job at LSU. He had the foresight to promote Ensminger and to keep defensive coordinator Dave Aranda. Ensminger has flourished as offensive coordinator and helped recruit former Saints assistant coach Joe Brady to become the pass game coordinator. My dad would have loved to see LSUs Dream Team of coaches come alive and a passing offense he always believed LSU should have.

If he were still here, I can picture him in the Morans suite in Tiger Stadium, sitting in seat No. 9 the seat he sat in every game for about eight years with his steely blue eyes watching the game intently, a wad of chewing tobacco in his cheek while holding a spit cup. Cutting those eyes briefly and glancing over saying, It just doesnt get much better than this!

The icing on the cake? What team did the 1958 LSU national champions beat, 7-0, to finish their perfect season on Jan. 1, 1959, in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans? Clemson. Coincidence?

The players, coaches and scores were different, but the heart is the same.

One Team, One Heartbeat. Or, make that Two Teams, One Heartbeat.

FOREVER LSU!

Bunnie Cannon, Executive Director, Tiger Athletic Foundation, LSU B.A. 1992 & LSU M.S. 1997

Introduction

by Glenn Guilbeau

Once upon a time, a Cajun man was literally Born on the Bayou in Larose, Louisiana, and took a route as meandering as the Mississippi River itself to his dream job a national championship as LSUs head football coach.

And on the night of Jan. 13, 2020, he paddled his proverbial pirogue up the Mighty Mississippi, which curves just blocks from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, where his Fighting Tigers of LSU defeated Clemson to win the national championship and finish off the greatest season in program history at 15-0.

The only previous undefeated national champion at LSU was the 1958 team that finished 11-0 after a 7-0 win over Clemson in the Sugar Bowl in Tulane Stadium in New Orleans on Jan. 1, 1959.

Theres no way I could have written a better script, LSU coach Ed Orgeron said. No way.

And he did it with a roster full of fellow Cajuns, Louisianans, and converted Louisianans, such as a quarterback from The Plains, Ohio, named Joe Burrow aka Jeaux Burreaux.

Ill always feel like Im from Louisiana. This place and its people embrace you like one of their own, said Burrow, a transfer from Ohio State.

And they embrace you back after you leave like a prodigal son, which is what Orgeron did at age 18 as a freshman at LSU. He quit the Tigers football team in August 1979 after signing as a top lineman out of South Lafourche High in Galliano, where he was recruited by Alabama coach Bear Bryant.

Yeah, there was unfinished business when I left LSU, Orgeron said as his return reached its climax in the Crescent City just 62 miles from his birthplace. I didnt give myself a chance to compete at the highest level like I should have as a player. So I was a little disappointed in myself. I wanted to get the chance to come back to LSU and prove myself.

His golden opportunity came on Sept. 25, 2016 the day coach Les Miles was fired after an 18-13 loss at Auburn that dropped the Tigers to 2-2 after being ranked No. 5 to start the season. He was named interim head coach and answered with a 5-2 record, got the permanent job two days after a 54-39 Thanksgiving Night win at Texas A&M in the regular season finale, and won the Citrus Bowl over No. 15 Louisville to finish 6-2.

A view from the top of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome as Joe Burrow takes a snap in the third quarter of the College Football Playoff national championship game against Clemson (James Lang/USA TODAY Sports)