By Hunt Palmer
In a different era, one not too far in the rearview mirror, bowl games were rewards for a solid to great season. They were celebrated trips with business involved. Teams and conferences put bragging rights on the line one more time in big time destinations (and Shreveport).
Opt-outs, portal additions and Pop-Tarts have become the central focus these days, but that doesn’t mean we can’t look back at some of the performances of the past to celebrate them.
Below I’ve ranked the Top 10 LSU bowl game performances of the last 30 years. This has been the golden age of Tiger football. It’s included three national titles. We tossed those three games out. Justin Vincent was sensational in the title-clinching win over Oklahoma. Hat tip to Marcus Spears’s pick six of Jason White that night, too. Richard Dickson and Matt Flynn lit it up in the Dome in January of 2008. And Joe Burrow did his thing 12 years later. You know about those. We’re digging a little deeper here for some games that weren’t quite as high profile.
Let’s get started.
- Tommy Banks – 2000 Peach Bowl
– Banks is perhaps best known for plunging into the endzone to help beat No. 1 Florida in 1997. But he capped his LSU career with an excellent effort in the Peach Bowl against Georgia Tech. The bruising fullback caught a career-best seven balls for 71 yards and two scores. Rohan Davey was actually the offensive MVP of the game, but Banks’s surprising effort in the passing game gets the nod.
- Terrence Toliver – 2011 Cotton Bowl
– LSU’s rout of Texas A&M in the 2011 Cotton Bowl is considered the arrival of the 2011 team that torched college football for four months at the end of 2011. Tyrann Mathieu, Eric Reid and Tharold Simon, all freshmen, had interceptions. Spencer Ware, a sophomore who had backed Stevan Ridley up, ran for 102 yards. They would be stars on the ensuing SEC Championship team. But it was Terrence Toliver in his final game as a Tiger who won Offensive MVP honors for his five-catch, 112-yard night that including three receiving touchdowns. The former five-star and native Texan accounted for 72 percent of LSU air yards in the 41-24 win in Arlington.
- Jeremy Hill – 2014 Outback Bowl
– LSU’s offense was prolific in 2013. For the first time in SEC history, a team notched a 3,000-yard passer (Zach Mettenberger), two 1,000-yard receivers (Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry) and a 1,000 yard rusher (Jeremy Hill). When the Tigers got to Tampa for an Outback Bowl matchup with Iowa, Mettenberger had a torn ACL, and Beckham was too gimpy to help much. Anthony Jennings got his first start and completed seven passes for 82 yards. He was sacked four times in the Raymond James Stadium mud. LSU won 21-14 that day behind 216 yards and two touchdowns by Jeremy Hill who carried the ball 28 times in his final game as a Tiger.
- Rondell Mealey – 1997 Independence Bowl
– LSU’s backfield in 1997 was headlined by Kevin Faulk who was well on his way to the College Football Hall of Fame. And Cecil “The Diesel” Collins exploded onto the scene for four games. Collins broke his leg after just five weeks, and Faulk went down with an injury against Notre Dame in the Independence Bowl. The running game was left in the hands of Rondell Mealey. The redshirt sophomore answered the bell for 222 yards and two fourth quarter touchdowns to help the Tigers rally for a 27-9 victory. Mealey was later inducted into the Independence Bowl Hall of Fame.
- LSU’s Defense – 2017 Citrus Bowl
– Lamar Jackson is a college football legend, winner of the 2016 Heisman Trophy. It sure feels like he’s ticketed for the Pro Football Hall of Fame the way he’s playing these days. Three weeks after he hoisted the Heisman, he faced off with Jamal Adams, Arden Key, Devin White, Tre’davious White, Davon Godchaux, Rashard Lawrence and a stingy Tiger defense. Jackson was sacked eight times, three by Tashawn Bower, and finished the game with 26 carries for 33 net yards and completed just 10-of-27 passes for 153 yards. Louisville entered the game averaging 45.3 points per game. The Cardinals scored nine and never reached the end zone.
- Leonard Fournette – 2015 Texas Bowl
– Les Miles was on the brink of losing his job at the end of the 2015 season. Most thought that fate was sealed as LSU took the field for the regular season finale against Texas A&M in Tiger Stadium. LSU won that night, and athletic director Joe Alleva announced following the game that Miles would return. He’d also be coaching in the Texas Bowl a month later. High-flying Texas Tech was led by a gun-slinging Patrick Mahomes, but this night was about a physical LSU team that was far too much for Kliff Kingsbury’s Red Raiders. Fournette carried 29 times for 212 and four touchdowns. LSU ran for 377 yards and seven touchdowns on the night. It could be argued that success against the softest defense in the Power 5 allowed Miles to believe his offense was good enough to compete for championships. He would lose his job nine months later.
- Kevin Faulk – 1995 Independence Bowl
– Legend has it that Gerry DiNardo left his introductory press conference and drove straight to Carencro to recruit Kevin Faulk. It didn’t take long for that visit to pay off. The Tigers brought back the magic in 1995 and qualified for a bowl game for the first time in seven years. The purple and gold from all over the state swarmed Shreveport and sold out Independence Stadium for a meeting with Michigan State and a glasses-wearing head coach named Saban. Faulk, a freshman, ran for 234 yards and racked up 271 all-purpose yards as LSU downed the Spartans 45-26 behind a dominating 24-2 second half performance.
- JaMarcus Russell – 2007 Sugar Bowl
– High-profile quarterbacks highlighted a monster Sugar Bowl matchup following the 2006 season. JaMarcus Russell and Brady Quinn led a pair of 10-2 teams into the Superdome. One elevated himself to the top of the draft, the other was really never heard from again. Russell fired three gorgeous touchdown passes, capped by a 58-yard missile to Brandon Lafell. Russell also ran for a touchdown. Quinn’s Irish offense never got out of neutral. He threw for just 148 yards and was picked off twice. LSU dismantled the Irish 41-14.
- Rohan Davey, Josh Reed and Dominick Davis – 2002 Sugar Bowl
– The 2001 Tigers were ahead of their time. That offense was a machine as the season progressed. Rohan Davey was stretching the field like few quarterbacks in the era, and Josh Reed was the best wide receiver in the country. They both put that on full display in New Orleans. Davey finished 33-of-43 for 444 yards and 3 touchdowns. Reed had 14 catches for 239 yards and two scores. I can’t really leave out Dominick Davis here. He ran for 122 and four scores. It was an offensive onslaught in front of a purple and gold takeover of the Superdome.
- Joe Burrow and Justin Jefferson – 2019 Peach Bowl
– We left out national finals, but we can’t pass over this one. Joe Burrow and Justin Jefferson made the national semifinal look like a September rent-a-win. It was too easy. The laughable box score included Burrow’s 29/39 for 493 yards and seven touchdowns. Jefferson hauled in 14 catches for 227 yards and four touchdowns. All four of which came before halftime. LSU scored a touchdown on eight of its first nine possessions.
