Ranking the Top 131 FBS Programs of the Last 40 Years: 13. LSU

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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/jimbobbypaul on 2023-08-12 19:59:47.

Main hub thread with the full 131 rankings

WHAT, LSU AT 13?!!!?!! I think this will be the most controversial ranking, especially since LSU has 3 national titles, tied for the 3rd most among remaining teams with Florida, Florida State, and Nebraska. Ultimately, it was the 90’s that did them in, with a 54-58-1 record, and 7 losing seasons in 10 years. LSU’s been one of the premier programs in the 21st century, winning 3 national titles and posting 12 double-digit win seasons. They have 5 SEC titles as well, and most people had them in the top 5-10, which shows how good they’ve become. Their last 3 coaches (Nick Saban, Les Miles, Ed Orgeron) have all won national titles with the Tigers, can Brian Kelly make it 4?

Best Seasons and Highlights

1. 2019: 1. Louisiana State: 15-0 (66.337)
2. 2011: 1. Louisiana State: 13-1 (58.424)
3. 2003: 1. Louisiana State: 13-1 (50.487)
4. 2007: 1. Louisiana State: 12-2 (46.537)
5. 2006: 6. Louisiana State: 11-2 (41.712)
6. 2010: 8. Louisiana State: 11-2 (38.200)
7. 1987: 6. Louisiana State: 10-1-1 (36.695)
8. 2005: 6. Louisiana State: 11-2 (35.435)
9. 2018: 9. Louisiana State: 10-3 (31.290)
10. 1986: 8. Louisiana State: 9-3 (30.670)
11. 2012: 13. Louisiana State: 10-3 (29.547)
12. 2015: 13. Louisiana State: 9-3 (28.680)
13. 2001: 8. Louisiana State: 10-3 (28.576)
14. 2013: 18. Louisiana State: 10-3 (26.684)
15. 2022: 16. Louisiana State: 10-4 (24.286)
16. 1997: 14. Louisiana State: 9-3 (22.346)
17. 1996: 15. Louisiana State: 10-2 (22.222)
18. 1984: 14. Louisiana State: 8-3-1 (21.480)
19. 2016: 20. Louisiana State: 8-4 (19.994)
20. 1985: 24. Louisiana State: 9-2-1 (19.388)
21. 2004: 17. Louisiana State: 9-3 (19.351)
22. 2009: 20. Louisiana State: 9-4 (18.658)
23. 1995: 25. Louisiana State: 7-4-1 (15.650)
24. 2017: 25. Louisiana State: 9-4 (15.319)
25. 1988: 24. Louisiana State: 8-4 (15.002)
26. 2000: 28. Louisiana State: 8-4 (12.933)
27. 2014: 29. Louisiana State: 8-5 (11.641)
28. 2008: 39. Louisiana State: 8-5 (8.848)
29. 2002: 34. Louisiana State: 8-5 (6.975)
30. 2020: 61. Louisiana State: 5-5 (-5.385)
31. 2021: 62. Louisiana State: 6-7 (-6.424)
32. 1998: 53. Louisiana State: 4-7 (-9.647)
33. 1993: 53. Louisiana State: 5-6 (-10.320)
34. 1991: 52. Louisiana State: 5-6 (-10.515)
35. 1989: 57. Louisiana State: 4-7 (-10.686)
36. 1990: 59. Louisiana State: 5-6 (-12.660)
37. 1994: 62. Louisiana State: 4-7 (-14.292)
38. 1983: 67. Louisiana State: 4-7 (-16.685)
39. 1999: 83. Louisiana State: 3-8 (-25.444)
40. 1992: 91. Louisiana State: 2-9 (-34.068)
Overall Score: 39876 (13th)

329-160-4 record
3 national titles
7 conference titles
19-12 bowl record
24 consensus All-Americans
209 NFL players drafted

LSU. Your 2003, 2007, 2019, and 2011 national champions. Record scratch. 2011? LSU didn’t actually win it that year. They lost to Alabama in the BCS National Championship Game. But my rankings are not beholdent to the BCS, and for me, LSU’s body of work stood above everyone else by the end of the year. In fact, I think it was a stronger team than their 2003 and 2007 editions. LSU is 19-8 in bowl games since 1987, one of the best postseason teams in that stretch. Consensus All-Americans we won’t discuss below are WR Wendell Davis (1987) who was the SEC Player of the Year, OL Nacho Albergamo (1987), P Chad Kessler (1997) who averaged 50.3 yards per punt, OG Alan Faneca (1997) who’s an NFL Hall of Famer, WR Josh Reed (2001) who won the Biletnikoff with 1740 yards, C Ben Wilkerson (2004) who won the Rimington Award, DL Marcus Spears (2004) who’s on ESPN now, CB Patrick Peterson (2010) who won the Thorpe, Bednarik, and SEC DPOTY awards, K Josh Jasper (2010) who hit 28 of 34 FGs, RB Leonard Fournette (2015) who ran for 1953 yards and 22 TD, CB Tre’Davious White (2016), CB Greedy Williams (2018), and LB Devin White (2018) who won the Butkus Award. Top LSU NFL players are QB Joe Burrow, WR Ja’Marr Chase, WR Justin Jefferson, WR Odell Beckham Jr., OG Alan Faneca, C Kevin Mawae, CB Patrick Peterson, OT Andrew Whitworth, DT Kyle Williams, CB Tyrann Mathieu, CB Tre’Davious White, S Jamal Adams, DB Ryan Clark, RB Kevin Faulk, WR Jarvis Landry, DE Danielle Hunter, OG Trai Turner, WR Dwayne Bowe, LB Deion Jones, LB Kwon Alexander, and LB Devin White. Just overflowing with talent.

Top 5 Seasons

Worst Season: 1992 (2-9 overall, 1-7 SEC)

The 1992 season was smack dab in the middle of 6 straight losing seasons from 1989-94, posting a combined record of 25-41. For a brief moment, the ‘92 season showed a lot of promise. A close 22-31 loss to #7 Texas A&M was avenged by a 24-3 win over #18 Mississippi State, LSU’s first and only SEC win of the season. Which makes sense that it was against Miss State, given the Tigers are 77-36-3 against them all-time. The next game LSU went down 7-27 to Auburn, but came back to lead 28-27 with just 1:43 to go. This is when the season fell apart. Auburn drove down the field, kicking a game-winning FG, giving LSU their 2nd loss of the season. Colorado State, who at the time was one of the worst programs in the country, marched into Baton Rouge and went home with a 17-14 win. At 1-3, LSU lost 6 of their last 7 games, losing 0-20 to #7 Tennessee, 0-32 to Ole Miss, and 6-30 to Arkansas. A late season matchup between 1-8 LSU and 2-8 Tulane was the “Battle for the Rag”, which was pretty emblematic of all either team had left to play for in the season; a rag. QB Jamie Howard, the father of recent LSU 4-star QB Walker Howard, threw for 1349 yards 5 TD 13 INT, while the backups combined for 3 TD 7 INT. RB Odell Beckham Sr. was LSU’s 2nd leading rusher with 234 yards and 2 TD on 5.6 YPC, and added 14 catches for 137 yards. OT Kevin Mawae was 2nd Team All-SEC and an eventual NFL Hall of Famer.

5. 2006 (11-2 overall, 6-2 SEC)

Just another LSU team loaded with NFL talent on defense and playmakers on offense. 2007 NFL Draft #1 overall pick JaMarcus Russell could apparently throw a football 70 yards on his knees, and head coach Les Miles, offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher, and defensive coordinator Bo Pelini formed an all-star coaching staff. The season started with a 45-3 beatdown of Arizona, hitting QB Willie Tuitama on his first 3 passes then pick sixing his 4th. A 4-2 start for LSU was 4 beatdowns, 2 close road losses against top 5 teams (3-7 to #3 Auburn, 10-23 to #5 Florida). After that, #14 LSU finished strong, gaining a lot of respect in the polls by beating Kentucky 49-0, #8 Tennessee 28-24, Alabama 28-14, #5 Arkansas 31-26, and #11 Notre Dame 41-14 in the Sugar Bowl, finishing #3. In the game against Tennessee in Knoxville, JaMarcus threw the winning TD pass to a wide open WR Early Doucet with just 9 seconds remaining, 28-24.

JaMarcus was 1st Team All-SEC, throwing for 3129 yards 28 TD 8 INT. 3 star WRs in NFL 1st rounder Dwayne Bowe (990 yards, 12 TD), 1st rounder Craig Davis (836 yards, 4 TD) and 3rd rounder Early Doucet (772 yards, 8 TD) terrorized SEC defenses for 33.7 PPG. The defense was one of the best in the country, giving up just 12.6 PPG with 1st Team All-American DT Glenn Dorsey, 2nd Team All-SEC DE Tyson Jackson (8 sacks), and consensus All-American S LaRon Landry (74 tackles, 3 INT). Les Miles was just a baby in his 2nd season with LSU, but would go on to have many great years with the Tigers.

2006 LSU is my 143rd best team since 1983.

4. 2007 (12-2 overall, 6-2 SEC)

In an insane 2007 that most point to as the greatest college football season ever, LSU stands atop it. Despite losing 1st overall pick JaMarcus Russell and 3 other 1st round picks, #2 LSU was projected to play #1 USC in the title game heading into 2007. And man, for a good while it seemed like LSU was immune to the insanity of 2007. They were clearly the best team for the first half of the season, beating eventual 8-5 Mississippi State 45-0, #9 Virginia Tech 48-7, #12 South Carolina 48-16, and #9 Florida 28-24 on the road for a 6-0 start. Now at #1, it seemed like they were safe from the “Curse of #2”, where the #2 team was beaten 7 of the final 9 weeks in the regular season. Not so fast, my friend! #17 Kentucky decided to be a football school for the first half of 2007, beating #1 LSU 43-37 in triple OT. Moving down to #5, they’d still be in the mix for the national title, beating #18 Auburn and #17 Alabama, and thanks to some good old 2007 upsets, moved back into the #1 spot at 10-1. All that was left was the SEC Championship game after they beat Arkansas. They…did beat Arkansas right? Uh oh. Arkansas’ 3-headed backfield of Darren McFadden (206 rushing yards 3 TD), Peyton Hillis (89 yards 2 TD) and Felix Jones (85 yards) ran all over #1 LSU’s defense for a 50-48 3OT win, just about eliminating 10-2 LSU from national title contention. In the SEC Championship Game, #5 LSU beat #14 Tennessee 21-14 thanks to a 257 yard performance from talented backup QB Ryan Perriloux. And well, in true 2007 fashion, #1 Missouri and #2 West Virginia lost, and LSU leapfrogged #4 Georgia to move into the #2 spot and make the national title game. In what was effectively a home game in the Louisiana Superdome, #2 LSU beat #1 Ohio State in dominant fashion thanks to 4 passing TDs from QB Matt Flynn. After a wild year, LSU finished atop the 2007 mountain.

QB Matt Flynn threw for 2407 yards 21 TD 11 INT while backup Ryan Perriloux threw for 6…

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