High Risk, High Reward: The story of the 2019 LSU Tiger Team and Season

In the aftermath of his team’s decisive 42-25 rout over the reigning national champion Clemson Tigers, Ed Orgeron took in the moment. He stood on that stage and watched, as his players raised that beloved trophy and took turns holding and kissing their new prize. Ed turns to one side and sees a sea of orange heading for the exits. The Clemson fans came and supported well, but were now leaving after watching their beloved Tigers lose their first game since the 2017 College Football Semi-Finals, that also happened to take place in New Orleans. The new dynasty in college football had hit a snag and their long streak of 29 straight wins came to an end on a gloomy night in New Orleans. Ed turns to his other side and sees the victors and their fans hugging their loved ones and singing those provocative words to the song “Neck”. For the LSU fans, this was a great deal. Winning their 4th National Title, 3rd in the BCS/College Football Playoff era meant all of their nightmares of their last trip to New Orleans for a national title could now be washed away. Ed looks out and wraps his arms around his team and begins to think what we all were thinking. How did they get here?

It was not long removed from Ed Orgeron being considered a bad hire. When LSU was looking for their next head coach, Ed Orgeron was number 3 on the wish list at best. But when Jimbo said no, and Tom Herman sold his soul for burnt Orange, Ed got the call. Uncertainty surrounded Orgeron thanks to his time at Ole Miss in the early 2000’s. His inability to win when he was a head coach in the SEC deterred many, and even though he had been fired, some people were not sure if Coach O could live up to his predecessors at LSU in Nick Saban and Les Miles. That uncertainty did not go away the next year as they went 9-4 and had to fire offensive coordinator Matt Canada. After switching back to Steve Ensminger to call the plays, Orgeron knew he needed a field general. Little did he know that his quarterback would have as much uncertainty as he did.

At around the time Louisiana’s premier college football program was making changes about it’s offensive coordinator, Ohio’s premier program was trying to figure out who would be the heir apparent to J.T. Barrett who was now off to the NFL. Dwayne Haskins and Joe Burrow competed day in and day out in the spring of 2018 to see who would be QB1 for the Buckeyes. At the end of the spring, Haskins had nudged out Burrow for the job, and that Burrow looking for another school to call home. In comes the unproven coach on the Bayou who saw something in Burrow and said that he would be the starter for the Tigers. While Joe Burrow had the mind and the size of a quarterback, like Coach O, uncertainty surrounded him. How would a kid who has hardly received valuable snaps in games be a starter in the SEC? How would a kid from Athens, Ohio handle the culture change of Baton Rouge and South Louisiana? In year one Joe Burrow showed that he could win games and he could lead this team to a New Year’s 6 bowl, but could he really be the guy to lead them to a national title? Coach O needed an ace in the hole. He found it in an unproven assistant from the most prolific passing team in the NFL.

In the summer before this season, Coach O traveled down I-10 to the Big Easy to speak to New Orleans Saints and their offensive staff. Orgeron was looking to pick their minds and take some ideas back to Baton Rouge. What he took was a little bit more valuable, as he hired on Joe Brady, an offensive analyst of the Saints who wasn’t even 30 years old, to oversee the passing game for the Tigers. Like his head coach and quarterback, Brady came in with many question marks and uncertainties as well. First off he was extremely young, and had only been with the New Orleans Saints for a couple of seasons. Second with such little experience in the college game, and coming into a situation with a veteran offensive coordinator, Steve Ensminger, no one was sure how that relationship would work. After beating Georgia Southern in game 1 of season, LSU played Texas in Austin and had their full offense on display. With a 3rd and 17 in the 4th quarter and when former LSU coaches and offenses would have played it safe, Ensminger and Brady dialed up a tremendous play that led to a Burrow to Justin Jefferson touchdown. This was the defining moment for the Tigers and showed that the Ensminger and Brady relationship could and would work.

With Burrow at quarterback and Brady and Ensminger calling the plays, LSU went into 2019 with new expectations. Along with other stars and weapons who had own uncertainties in their time at LSU like Clyde Edwards-Helaire (Size), Justin Jefferson (recruiting stars), Thaddeus Moss (Health), and Derrick Stingley Jr. (True Freshman), This LSU team took off. Embarking on what could go down as the most impressive resume in college football history by beating 7 Top 10 teams at the time of the game. They beat all 4 of the preseason top 4 teams (Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, and Oklahoma). That win against Alabama, snapped an 8 game losing streak to their SEC rivals. They had the greatest offense in college football history, as they scored the most points ever in a season. They finished with a 5,000 yard passer, 1,000 yard rusher, and 2 1,000 yard receivers. They took home so many individual honors from the Broyles award, Coach of the Year, Biletnikoff, and Jim Thorpe award. Not to mention that they will have to create a new wing at their football operations building just for Joe Burrow. The senior quarterback took home the Davey O’Brien, Maxwell, Walter Camp, Johnny Unitas awards, and became the 2nd Heisman Trophy winner in school history. All of this was culminated Monday with the team standing center stage in the Superdome raising the National Championship trophy after beating the juggernaut that is Clemson.

So How did they get here? They got there because Coach O took chances. He saw the program in his image when he interviewed for the job. He envisioned building a program that could beat Alabama, and compete not only for an SEC title, but a national one as well. He recognized that he had to the hire the right people and recruit the right kids, no matter the uncertainty behind them. He was going to do this his way and not care about the outside noise. Coach O lived and coached this season by the famous motto “Go big or go home”. In the city where poker was created, Coach O went all in, and his dream came to fruition. Coach O took in that moment, but let’s be real, only two words were in his mind: Geaux Tigers!