I honestly had no idea LSU folks saw the 2003 game against Georgia as such an iconic moment for their program.
“There was something about that day,” Bonnette says. “It will forever be remembered as the day that got us where we are.”
Interestingly enough, some are hoping Saturday is that kind of day for Coach Orgeron.
And now, maybe, it has come full circle. A program that has regressed to its historic mean—eight to nine wins, a nice bowl game and mid-tier SEC finish—is in position to storm back into the championship spotlight with three Top 25 home games in the next month that could make the Florida loss feel like years ago: No. 2 Georgia, No. 25 Mississippi State and No. 1 Alabama. “Every LSU coach has had his game,” Bertman says. “Nick had Georgia in 2003. Les had Florida in 2007. This Georgia game could be it for Ed.”
The first step in a return to glory, the chance to spoil UGA’s banner season, a potential table-setter for another gigantic party—it all arrives Saturday in Tiger Stadium, under the sun.
Or moon, as the case may be.
Former Georgia offensive coordinator Neil Callaway had experienced LSU night games in the past, with a rowdy crowd creating a venue so loud at field level that Bryant once described the experience as “being inside of a drum.” He had always been told that day games were different, more subdued and tame. So, as Georgia’s team buses arrived at Tiger Stadium around 12:30 in the afternoon, he did not expect to see a man’s bare ass. He was wrong. “People were mooning,” says Callaway, now the offensive line coach at USC. “They were lined up out there from the bus to the locker room, hollering and acting like fools.”
I’m sure it will be much calmer this time.
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Georgia at LSU in 2003. Alabama at Georgia in 2008. To a lesser degree, Georgia at Auburn in 2010 and 2013. We’ve definitely been a springboard and launching pad for other SEC programs. That bunch is gone, though, and we’re under new management. It’s time for us to figure out which game is going to be the one that launches the sustained march to greatness FOR Georgia. Saturday’s as good a spot as any.
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I think the Notre Dame game was our springboard. Remember, the 2008 Bama team lost in Atlanta and the Sugar Bowl to Utah.
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didn’t just LOSE the Sugar Bowl to Utah, they got a mudhole stomped into them 31-17 by the big underdog Utes. My recollection was the world blew it off as “they didn’t care about being there since they missed the BCS” instead of SABAN CANT MOTIVATE PEOPLE. He seems to have done ok since then, huh?
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It does seem like a cop out but that is the mentality at Bama, national title or bust, most UGA fans will never understand this. I didn’t until I spent significant time in Birmingham in the fall.
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What a frustrating game. We came out like gangbusters but struggled to score. 14 had a fumble I think. Billy Bennett had a bad day. We jumped on a make and he missed 5 yards back. I think he missed again later.
Tyson Browning goes 93 yards on a screen play to tie it, and we decide that it would be a good idea to kick it deep to Devery Henderson.
Of course by the time of the rematch in December, they had found Justin Vincent and their defense was impenetrable.
We got them back in 2004 though!
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Bennett missed 3 that day. The difference in the game …
In the SECCG, who knows what happens if Kregg Lumpkin catches that P-44 Haynes type of pass where the entire field was open for him early in the game?
In 2004, we pi$$ed away the LSU beatdown by faceplanting against 10rc the next week.
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Bennett and Lumpkin was my first 2 thoughts when I read about 2003 again. Lumpkin pass would have taken the lid off the dome. Downhill from there. Thought Vincent would win a Heisman after what I saw that night. Ended up being clocked, but that one play was the turning point. And Bennett, so uncharacteristic. We need to understand this: LSU is always a tough out.
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I was at that game down on the first row (terrible seats, but at least I was in the stadium). When Henderson ran that kick back, that was the loudest I’ve ever heard any stadium, ever. My ears actually rang (and this is after years of abuse at various concerts). Wild, wild environment. Made the ass-whipping we gave them in 2004 all the sweeter. 2008’s whipping down there was pretty good as well. As for 2009 game, F Marc Curles and his GT bias!
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I recall the state trooper presence protecting the Georgia buses in 08. The LSU crowd were jackasses in 03, and the Georgia crowd in 98 was too drunk to care. I’m hoping the Florida loss will have tamed them a bit this Sat.
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From the story above, looks like they have found a battle cry to get them going this week.
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If I have my years right…we also played LSU in the SEC championship that year. I left a poker game in which I was well on my way to winning up to forty bucks to attend that game. You can imagine how much I wanted my forty dollars by the end of night.
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We did indeed see them again in Atlanta. I was in Baton Rouge in ’03, one of the last away games I ever attended. Insane crowd, both them and us. I can remember that when I was walking out, an LSU fan said “Oh, we’ll see y’all again in Atlanta. Y’all got a damn good football team.”
He was right about meeting again in Atlanta. Too bad we got our asses waxed that second time around.
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And if we’d beaten them in BR that day, their path to Atlanta was a lot tougher, in that we might not have had to play them at all.
It makes that loss so much tougher because that year could’ve been so different if Bennett had been himself that day.
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LSU. Grown men mooning college students gives meaning to the term coonass I reckon.
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I saw a reference somewhere to “controversy” in the 2003 game from a Georgia fan’s perspective. That wasn’t how I remembered it and the game summary I looked up online and these comments confirm the same. Anyone have any idea why somebody would have described the game as controversial?
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No controversy that I remember. We made mistakes, LSU made plays, and they deserved to win.
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I’m not saying LSU didn’t deserve to win but Georgia should have won that game. Mistakes. Without ’em the Dawgs win it.
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Same here. I don’t remember any particular controversy of note. Just a damn old-school slobberknocker of a football game. Sat net to Clay Ware, former Georgia center and fellow Toccoa native, during that game. As a former player, he had some great insights on the game.
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Only thing I can think of….wasn’t there an issue where they hit Greene late, and Shock had to come in with the ball on about the 7 inch line….15 years a long time.
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I was in the endzone where Browning scored the 93 yard screen pass. Then we kick off to Henderson and there was a blatant block in the back by LSU on his long kick return. 4:39 mark of this video you can see it: at the 15 yard line… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm9AAIjqx28. To us, LSU should have started that drive at their own 7 yard line.
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Been there, Done that. Whip their ass and they will be mild as kittens when you leave the stadium. If they win you have to run the gauntlet.
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My experience has been exactly the opposite. When they lose, they get ornery. When they win, everybody is their brother.
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Agreed Russ, I was there in 98 for a squeaker of a win. My friends and I were almost run down by a car. Saw some people get spit upon. Of course, there was one in our party who wasn’t exactly great at avoiding trouble either (20 years is a long time ago, he’s mild as a kitten himself these days). I think if they lose a close one, where they are still all in the stadium, they are bad news. If the team can achieve their goal of beating them up early, they can have that stadium half empty before the clock hits zero.
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I have found you get treated as you treat others, never had a problem with LSU.
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In the away games I’ve been to — Kentucky (twice), Vanderbilt, Tennessee, LSU — the only trouble my traveling party has encountered has been with other Georgia fans. That’s the damn sad, honest truth. The LSU fans were all super-nice to us, and some of the Georgia fans made me want to just take my hat off and be anonymous.
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Had plenty of them nice before the game, and some of the best tailgating food ever. Had plenty nice after the game. But also know that a car punched it in a crowded street and other fans nearby in the corner of the end zone got spit upon. As an aside, three of us in our group shared two field passes in a rotation, and that place is so loud at field level it was crazy. The fact that players can largely tune it out and perform is remarkable.
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cannon-armed quarterback David Greene
😐
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You mean the winningest QB in NCAA history when he graduated.
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Interesting article, I guess, but it read like it was written by the LSU media team. I guess we’re expected to show up and get our ass beat again? Yeah, that ain’t happening.
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No slander or libel against DG, the original DGD, but he would chuckle at that description. David was many things. Cannon-armed, he was not.
Reading that I was reminded of Tim Jennings being suspended the first two games and wondering in a game of small details (and apparently missed opportunities) we weren’t as ready for that 3rd and 4 moment as we could have been…
Interesting to hear Callaway break down our RB being open in the middle of field against Saban-blitz-ball and LSU. Made me think of the SEC CG later that year. Wasn’t it Lumpkin that drop an early pass out of the backfield in which he could have run for days?
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Gotcha. I didn’t realize until after I posted that the article mentioned that.
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If Lumpkin catches that ball he scores and it’s a whole different game.
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It was the last conversation I had with my dad before he died. Memories for sure. We talked after every Georgia, Illinois and Arizona game for years.
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LSU lost at home to Zook the very next week.
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I saw UGA beat LSU in Baton Rouge in the late 90’s, I cannot remember the exact year, when Donnan was the coach. Champ Bailey caught a QB pass for a TD. Baton Rouge was a great experience. Louisiana is one of the best restaurant states in the country.
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That was 1998.
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Seth Emerson wrote a spectacular piece about that game for The Athletic today.
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The best article I have ever seen by Seth Emerson. Including the perspectives of the players, coaches, and media involved, intertwined with the game story was just outstanding. The quality of players involved highlights what makes this conference head and shoulders above all others. Booger’s surprise about Kirby’s role was genuine. And how about Donnan’s improvised play? Also illustrates what a waste of talent QC became months after that, his light wasn’t bright for very long. Champ Bailey, 94 freaking plays!
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I was there. Just seemed like a normal game we should have won. I’ve been to LSU probably ten times going back to 78 Won probably half
Given the new schedule I’m guessing this will be my last time. Looking forward to a big W.
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