1959: Another 21-0 Season-Ending Rematch Loss for LSU

Here's a bit of Tiger football lore I honestly wasn't aware of. I was reading Billy Cannon's biography and his version of events.

1959 of course was the follow-up to the undefeated 1958 national chamnpionship season.

The Tigers were 7-0, then lost 14-13 to Tennessee in Knoxville, when Cannon was stopped running off-tackle on a two point conversion. The Tigers went on to defeat Mississippi State and Tulane, but according to Cannon, "the fire went out" after the Tennessee loss.

The Tigers were invited to the Sugar Bowl to play ... Ole Miss, a rematch of the game the Rebels lost that October, 7-3 to LSU on Cannon's famous punt return.

Athletic Director Jim Corbett wanted the game badly, but the team was not enthused about a rematch. According to Cannon, the vote was a "charade."

"Corbett knew we didn't want to go ... and he knew if he tried to force us to go, it would be a wasted trip. We weren't dummies. We'd played the game defensively as well as we could ... and had gotten lucky and won the game offensively.

"Corbett was really pushing us, telling us how great the game would be for LSU. We ended up voting on the proposal three times. The first time we voted no. Then Corbett offered us ten tickets each that they would sell for us ... and when we voted no a second time, they let all the [squad players] vote. I stood up and said, 'Coach, why don't we go to another bowl game?', and he said 'No, we're going to the Sugar Bowl or we're going to no game at all.' I sat down and shut up. The third time, Max Fugler and I didn't bother to participate, and it passed by three or four votes"--Billy Cannon: A Long, Long Run, p.140.

And so, a less-than-motivated Tiger team, facing an SEC rival they'd already beaten in a "do-over," gets beaten by Johnny Vaught's Rebels by the score of ... 21-0.

Quite similar to what happened in New Orleans 52 years later.