LSU Bowl Games

Telling the story of LSU football through coverage of each of the Tigers’ 50 bowl games–from 1907 through 2019–this book provides summaries of the team’s regular season, and their opponents’ season, along with quarter-by-quarter game highlights, important stats, and quotes from players and coaches. Bowl games are presented in a number of notable contexts, including games against Hall of Fame coaches (1936-1938 Sugar Bowls, 2010 Capital One Bowl), games that featured Heisman Trophy winners (1959-1960 Sugar Bowls, 2019 Peach Bowl), LSU’s first games against black players (1965 Sugar Bowl, 1972 Bluebonnet Bowl), and the first game played by a U.S. football team in a foreign country (1907 Bacardi Bowl).

Neal Golden is a longtime high school computer science teacher in New Orleans, Louisiana whose hobby is sports history.

Neal Golden
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 365
Bibliographic Info: 88 photos, abbreviations, facts and figures, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2021
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8311-9
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4198-0
Imprint: McFarland

Abbreviations xi
LSU Bowl Games Facts and Figures xiii
Preface 1
Bacardi Bowl vs. University of Havana: LSU invaded Cuba nine years after the ­Spanish-American War 3
Sugar Bowl vs. TCU: Why didn’t you kick a field goal, Bernie? 7
Sugar Bowl vs. Santa Clara: Bronco fans tore down the goal posts 14
Sugar Bowl vs. Santa Clara: You don’t often win committing five turnovers 20
Orange Bowl vs. Texas A&M: Steve Van Buren spearheaded LSU’s first bowl victory 27
Cotton Bowl vs. Arkansas: How do you gain 15 first downs to one and not win? 33
Sugar Bowl vs. Oklahoma: The clock struck midnight for the Cinderella Tigers 40
Sugar Bowl vs. Clemson: It wasn’t supposed to be this tough for the nation’s #1 team 46
Sugar Bowl vs. Ole Miss: The Tigers didn’t want the rematch, and it showed 52
Orange Bowl vs. Colorado: LSU said farewell to Paul Dietzel with a dominating victory 60
Cotton Bowl vs. Texas: “The Battle of Identical Twins” went the Tigers’ way 67
Bluebonnet Bowl vs. Baylor: SEC’s top rushing team vs. nation’s top passing team 73
Sugar Bowl vs. Syracuse: “Their pursuit was terrific” 80
Cotton Bowl vs. Arkansas: “The sickest I’ve ever been in coaching” 87
Sugar Bowl vs. Wyoming: “LSU kept sending in players with nice clean jerseys” 95
Peach Bowl vs. Florida State: “What is the Peach Bowl going to do for an encore?” 102
Orange Bowl vs. Nebraska: Irresistible force vs. immovable object 107
Sun Bowl vs. Iowa State: “Governor, don’t leave. I need to talk to you.” 115
­Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl vs. Tennessee: A tale of two halves 121
Orange Bowl vs. Penn State: Crusade for Eastern football 127
Sun Bowl vs. Stanford: Top passer vs. top rusher 133
Liberty Bowl vs. Missouri: One good half isn’t enough 140
Tangerine Bowl vs. Wake Forest: “No way possible we were going to lose that football game” 146
Orange Bowl vs. Nebraska: “You just played the No. 3 team to a standoff” 153
Sugar Bowl vs. Nebraska: “You have to play well the entire game, and we didn’t” 160
Liberty Bowl vs. Baylor: Not as close as the score indicates 167
USF&G Sugar Bowl vs. Nebraska: “It seemed like everyone wanted to kill us” 172
Mazda Gator Bowl vs. South Carolina: “We should have been favored” 179
Hall of Fame Bowl vs. Syracuse: “We all could have played better” 185
Poulan Weed Eater Independence Bowl vs. Michigan State: The magic is back! 190
Peach Bowl vs. Clemson: Both coaches got the game they wanted 197
Poulan Weed Eater Independence Bowl vs. Notre Dame: Second time’s the charm 202
­Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl vs. Georgia Tech: “He makes you want to go to war” 209
Nokia Sugar Bowl vs. Illinois: Two surprise conference champs meet 218
SBC Cotton Bowl Classic vs. Texas: “It’s the hardest bunch for me to let go” 225
Nokia Sugar Bowl vs. Oklahoma: BCS championship game 232
Capital One Bowl vs. Iowa: “Somebody in an Iowa jersey has to catch this ball” 241
­Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl vs. Miami: A season that began with hurricanes ended with the Hurricanes 247
Allstate Sugar Bowl vs. Notre Dame: “The seniors came to play” 256
­Chick-fil-A Bowl vs. Georgia Tech: What a second half explosion! 262
Capital One Bowl vs. Penn State: A sloppy game on a sloppy field 268
AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic vs. Texas A&M: Game of his life in his home state 274
­Chick-fil-A Bowl vs. Clemson: For want of a first down 282
Outback Bowl vs. Iowa: “Old school football” 290
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl vs. Notre Dame: A disappointing end to a disappointing season 296
AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl vs. Texas Tech: “We just kept running it down their throat” 302
Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl vs. Louisville: “You give Coach Aranda more than a week, it’s going to be hard for you” 310
Citrus Bowl Presented by Overton’s vs. Notre Dame: Notre Dame did it by the book 318
PlayStation Fiesta Bowl vs. Central Florida: One man can make a big difference 327
­Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl vs. Oklahoma: “Is there an award higher than the Heisman Trophy?” 336
Bibliography 343
Index 345

“A ‘golden’ read for all Tiger fans who like to reminisce about those thrilling games in football history.”—BrotherMartin.com