15 - LSU

They’ve won a Heisman Trophy and two national championships, but when most people think of the LSU Tigers usually the first thing to come to mind are their fans.

Frequently, rowdy doesn’t begin to describe the 90,000-plus people that jam into Tiger Stadium on Saturdays. Borderline insanity might be a better description.

Said Brad Budde, a former All-American from Southern California: “Unbelievable, crazy. That place makes Notre Dame look like Romper Room."

Football is a little different in the bayou, where they sport bumper stickers that scream “Geaux Tigers," the mascot is a real live Bengal tiger named Mike, and most home games are played under the lights, giving fans all day to rev up.

Usually that includes a lot more than jambalaya, gumbo and crawfish etouffee.

In the Tuscaloosa News’ Best College Football Rankings, which will rate the Top 25 programs throughout the summer, LSU scored points in seven of 10 categories, the most coming from a sixth-place finish in both last year’s Top 25 and attendance.

But there’s little doubt that LSU’s football history is as rich as its purple and gold uniforms.

LSU’s first national title came in 1958, when before unlimited substitution coach Paul Dietzel split his team into three units. The White Team, which played both ways, included Billy Cannon, who won the Heisman a year later in 1959. The Go Team specialized in offense, and the third unit which concentrated on defense became known as the “Chinese Bandits" --borrowed from a “Terry and the Pirates" comic strip that referred to Chinese Bandits as the “most vicious people in the world."

The Tigers responded with a 10-0 regular season with only one opponent, Duke, able to score more than seven points. After being voted the consensus national champion after the regular season (which was usually when the final polls were tabulated), LSU topped it off with a 7-0 victory against Clemson in the Sugar Bowl.

LSU was riding an 18-game winning streak in 1959 when its most famous play occurred on Halloween night against Ole Miss. Ahead 3-0 in the fourth quarter, the Rebels punted on third-and-17 (which wasn’t uncommon then) at their own 42. Cannon fielded the bouncing ball at the 11 and headed up the sideline, avoiding numerous tacklers en route to the end zone for a dramatic 7-3 victory.

Not only did it secure Cannon’s Heisman, but it is also considered perhaps the greatest play in college football history. However, LSU subsequently lost at Tennessee, 14-13, after Dietzel went for a victory instead of settling for a tie, ending any chance of defending the title.

“We came to win, not to tie," Dietzel said. “If I had it to do over a hundred times, I would do the same thing."

LSU’s other national championship came in 2003, when coach Nick Saban led the Tigers to the controversial Bowl Championship Series title after they defeated Oklahoma 21-14 in the Sugar Bowl. But like everything else with LSU, it was anything but typical, as Associated Press voters placed Southern California first instead.

It all comes with the territory for a team whose fans got so loud against Auburn in 1988 that the geology department’s seismograph registered vibrations after the game’s key play.

“Baton Rouge happens to be the worst place in the world for a visiting team," Alabama coach Paul W. “Bear Bryant said. “It’s like being inside a drum."

Reach Christopher Walsh at christopher.walsh@tuscaloosanews.com or at (205) 722-0196.

The Tuscaloosa News Top 25 Rankings are based on ten categories, five all-time, five from the 2005 season, with points awarded similar to the weekly Associated Press poll.

2005 categories: Final AP poll, recruiting, attendance, NFL players and academics.

All-time categories: Bowl appearances, all-time AP Top 25, national championships, College Football Hall of Fame inductees and coaching legacy.

The rankings thus far:

15. LSU

16. Miami

17. Army

18. Texas A&M

19. UCLA

20. Navy

21. Pittsburgh

22. Stanford

23.Ole Miss

24. Clemson

25. Wisconsin