I know some of our "more experienced" members can probably think of some great college defenses, but in my limited experience, this one seems to rank right up there with any of them. LSU's defense in my opinion is the college equivalent of the 86 bears. What other teams in recent memory have had defenses this dominating? The only one I can think of off the top of my head is the 92 Alabama team and I still think our defesnse was better than theirs.
Ah well... I'm not going to go that far. I will say they were the best this year. I think that's just undeniable. Stoops said the best he'd seen since his first year at Oklahoma. They were good from the beginning but I swear they got better.
Some of Cholly Mac's defenses were pretty dominating. The 92 Bama D was great but IMO not in the all time greatest. The 2000 OU D was dominating in the NC game against Florida State. Football has changed a lot since the 60's and 70's era with the multiple offenses but in all honesty I can't recall having ever watched a defense as dominating in college football as the 2003 Tigers. Eli Manning got 1 touchdown. OU's touchdowns were the result of LSU offensive miscues. Without the blocked punt and the interception it would have been a shutout. Most of LSU's opponents points this year came late in the game when the first unit defense was on the bench. Without the punt block and the interception the Tiger D would have held the highest scoring offence in the NCAA scoreless. Ask David Greene, Eli Manning and Jason White how they would rank the Tiger D. IT WAS 60 MINUTES OF HELL!!! Saban's blitz packages combined with the talent this year on the D Line and the secondary was a football inovation equal to the guy who invented the T Formation and moved football out of the Single Wing days. LSU' opponents scored about 11 points a game this year. Go back through the season and throw out the defensive points and the points scored when the game was already decided against the second and third units and it will come out that the other teams scored about 6 points a game on LSU first unit defense. (I didn't do the research but that figure seems about right to the best of my immediate recall) YES, THE 2003 LSU DEFENSE WAS THE GREATEST EVER IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL.
I think so too, I've never seen a football game of any type where the offensive stats have been for the teams we've played like they have been lately. Giving up 154 total yards for the whole game to anybody much less OU.
OU 2000 D They were dominating in that game but were only very good throughout the season giving up 16 points game and about 280 yards. KSU gave up 11.8 points a game in 2000 so they were really better than OU in 2000. We had one of the best in history this season considering the teams we play and the offenses of today with the west coast passing, mutiple formations, 3, 4 and 5 wideouts, etc. Back in the 60's through the early 80's if you had a good front line, good LB's and one good DB you could dominate most offenses. Not naymore, you need good players all the way around. I think we compare more favorably with the great Miami defenses in the late eighties and early 90's with great ahtletes all the way around and speed to kill as well as strong D.L. guys that could also run.
From 1958, when he became LSU's DC, to 1962, when he became Head Coach, Charlie Mac's defenses at LSU gave up an average of 4.9 points per game. Granted, offenses back then weren't what they are today, but that's still pretty damned dominating if you ask me. Also, if I'm not mistaken, in 1959, Billy Cannon's punt return was one of only 3 TD's surrendered by Ole Miss that year... also a pretty dominating performance.
This defense only got better as the season progressed and culminated with the ultimate defensive performance in the Sugar Bowl. Think about it, even the only drive that OU sustained all night long required a 4th and 11 conversion in which their star athelete had to make a tremendous catch to keep the drive alive. The gift at the 2 yard line after the blocked punt would have ended up in 0 points had LSU not been offsides on 3rd down. We would have stopped OU on 4th down, I guaranDAMNtee it. I never saw the replay on that offsides and my nephew told me that the back judge threw the penalty....makes you wonder. I had predicted Jason White would be injured and would have to be taken out the game due to the relentless LSU pass rush. I was not far off, and in fact it was obvious he was playing injured after those first couple of devastating hits on him, throwing side arm and watching his long passes just flutter in the air. So in a sense had OU had a competent backup, they would have taken him out of the game. I agree with fanatic that this LSU defense is the equivalent to the 85 Bears defense (it was the 86 superbowl). You could not run, you could not pass, you simply HAD NO CHANCE!
I woke up asking myself this question today. The only team with a better (imho) defense I've seen is the '92 Bama squad. What the Tigahs did this year on D was awesome, they showed up every game.
I noticed that, too. The flag came from the back of the endzone and I couldn't see how that guy could possibly have seen offsides from there.
Lots of questionable calls that kept this game interesting..... The offsides at the goal line, the PI on Webster in the red zone, the interference on Mayes on the punt return giving OU much better field position, even a couple of holding penalties that stalled LSU drives in which ABC refused to show the replays of. It still didn't matter, as the LSU defense would have NONE of that.....OU was NOT going to tie the ballgame.
