5 moments under Ed Orgeron that LSU fans will never forget
LSU and head football coach Ed Orgeron will part ways at the conclusion of the 2021 season, director of athletics Scott Woodward announced on Sunday.
Orgeron, who is in his sixth season as the Tigers’ head coach, will coach for the remainder of the 2021 schedule. Since leading LSU to the 2019 national title, Orgeron and the Tigers have gone 9-8, including a 4-3 mark in 2021. Last year, LSU went 5-5, the school’s first non-winning season since 1999.
Let's take a look at five positive moments under Orgeron's short tenure that Tiger fans will never forget:
PERFECT FINISH: Joe Burrow, Ed Orgeron and LSU overcame a slow start and early deficit to roll past defending champion Clemson to a 42-25 victory and fitting finish to a historic season.
Led by Burrow and a slew of first-round draft picks, the Tigers claimed their first national championship since 2007 season. Many call the 2019 LSU season the best team in all of college football history.
GEAUX JOE: Joe Burrow, the 2019 Heisman Trophy winner, joined the likes of Billy Cannon as the only LSU Tigers to ever take home the prestigious award. Burrow's 90.7-percent of the first place votes is the largest margin of victory in the history of the prestigious award.
Burrow shattered all of LSU's single season passing records, along with a slew of SEC records, after logging 4,715 yards and 48 touchdowns thus far, with a December 28 clash with Oklahoma in the Peach Bowl, which is serving as a semi-final location for the College Football Playoffs.
Burrow's heartfelt speech immediately went viral and even had a touching moment dedicated to Orgeron:
"Coach O, you have no idea what you mean to my family. I didn’t play for three years, you took a chance on me not knowing if I could play or not. And I am forever grateful for you. Can you imagine a guy like Coach O giving me the keys to his football program? He just means so much to me and my family and to LSU. I sure hope they give him a lifetime contract, he deserves it."
SWEET, SWEET VICTORY: An unforgettable night in Tuscaloosa and nearly eight years of frustration wasn't going to wash away easily.
No. 2 LSU (9-0, 5-0) struck first Saturday and began tightening its group with another pair of touchdowns in the final 30 seconds of the first half.
No. 3 Alabama (8-1, 5-1) wouldn't let a 31-game home winning streak and eight straight defeats of its SEC West rivals go without an epic fight fitting of another "Game of the Century" moniker.
But in the final minutes, senior quarterback Joe Burrow and once again rose to the occasion and helped etch this season into history.
With the Crimson Tide continuing to breathe closer and closer down the Tigers' collective neck, their record-setting passer engineered a seven-play, 75-yard drive that inspired his teammates to lift him on their shoulders in postgame celebration.
A 7-yard touchdown run by junior running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire helped stretch a 5-point lead to 12, and LSU escapade an eventual 46-41 shootout to claim its first victory in the series since Nov. 5, 2011.
MANHANDLING BOWL OPPONENTS: Orgeron's Tigers defeated the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship Game to win their first SEC title since 2011. LSU then followed up that victory with a meeting against the Big 12 Conference champion Oklahoma Sooners in the semifinals in the Peach Bowl.
The No. 1 seeded LSU destroyed the Sooners, 63–28, to advance to the title game at home in New Orleans.
FINDING A WAY TO WIN WITH A SHOE: From opt-outs, injuries and questionable culture, underdog LSU found a way to get a win against Florida with freshman quarterback Max Johnson in his first start.
Cade York sent the football sailing through the thick Florida fog just as a Gators defender had his teammate's shoe minutes earlier.
LSU's sophomore kicker's game-winner easily cleared the crossbar 57 yards away with 23 seconds remaining to stun the No. 6 Gators (8-2) in the 37-34 thriller.
The Tigers' victory was an instant and emotional highlight for a frustrating season desperately in need of them — particularly on a week headlined by opt-outs, self-imposed bowl bans and questions regarding the program's culture.
Johnson completed 21 of 36 passes (58.3 percent) for 239 yards and three touchdowns in his first career start.
"I was so proud of our football players and our coaching staff," Orgeron said. "They fought under very adverse conditions. Blocking out the noise was key this week, and we had to believe in ourselves. Our players came here to win the football game.
"We talked about it last night. We felt that we could win. We hadn't played very well. And I'm just so proud of the grit and the toughness in a lot of young players and a lot of older players giving it everything they've got for the Tigers."