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1978 LSU football roster: how do they stack up?
Posted on 7/18/11 at 1:07 am
Posted on 7/18/11 at 1:07 am
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I picked this year more or less at random: The Tigers went 8-4 that year and lost to Missouri in the Liberty Bowl. Some very notable names on this roster, including Charles Alexander, Steve Ensminger,David Woodley and Carlos Carson, , as well as lots of guys who toiled in obscurity.
Question: How would these guys match up against the current roster? Give them a modern year round S&C program to make it fair. My opinion: A lot of the skill position players could hold their own. Where you'd see a real disparity would be the OL, DL and LBers. The biggest offensive lineman I remember from that era was Charles McDuff, at about 270 pounds, and he was slow as a glacier at that weight.
I picked this year more or less at random: The Tigers went 8-4 that year and lost to Missouri in the Liberty Bowl. Some very notable names on this roster, including Charles Alexander, Steve Ensminger,David Woodley and Carlos Carson, , as well as lots of guys who toiled in obscurity.
Question: How would these guys match up against the current roster? Give them a modern year round S&C program to make it fair. My opinion: A lot of the skill position players could hold their own. Where you'd see a real disparity would be the OL, DL and LBers. The biggest offensive lineman I remember from that era was Charles McDuff, at about 270 pounds, and he was slow as a glacier at that weight.
5
Posted on 7/18/11 at 1:50 am to Jim Rockford
Boy is it time for the new season to start.
Posted on 7/18/11 at 7:10 am to Jim Rockford
Chris Williams was money at CB. He remains the career interception leader.
Tioga High School's sole LSU scholarship football player in history.
Tioga High School's sole LSU scholarship football player in history.
Posted on 7/18/11 at 7:49 am to Jim Rockford
Charlie would be a terrific zone scheme RB...great speed, incredible strength and a true one cut guy. Carlos Carson could fly and would flourish in a true 4 wide out system. Remember that OL had Robert Dugas, who was 2nd team All American. Defensively, the secondary had Chris Williams, Willie Teal and James Britt...they all spent lots of time playing on Sundays...
Posted on 7/18/11 at 8:24 am to Jim Rockford
quote:
Question: How would these guys match up against the current roster?
They don't. The only Mac coached teams that could possibly match the talent of today's team would be those teams from the late 60s and early 70s.
Mac's teams tailed off significantly in the mid 70s. We bounced back and sent him out a winner but the mid and late 70s was just not as good.
Posted on 7/18/11 at 11:42 am to Jim Rockford
not sure how you measure one team from a generation ago with one today.
Still that '78 LSU team remains a very interesting one.They were pre-season #13 and given a good shot by some to unseat Alabama as SEC Champ.Charles Alexander was back for his senior year and mentioned for the Heisman.Unfortunately they slopped around in the first two games which were the first two with the original West upper deck with Indiana and Wake Forest.Seemed to get it togethor at Rice and at Florida. Came home #10 to face Georgia (for the first time since '52.
LSU led 17-7 at halfime but "Run Lindsey Run" Scott ran the second half kickoff back 99 yds for a td and Georgia got 10 more third qtr points off LSU turnovers to win 24-17.
The Tigers regrouped and went to Birmingham 6-1 and ranked #10 again to face #3 Alabama at Legion Field.LSU scored on its second drive with a 25 yd scoring pass from David Woodley to Carlos Carson to go up 7-0.After a couple of first downs on Alabama's next possession Chris Williams intercepted a Jeff Rutledge pass and ran it in for an apparent touchdown to go up 13-0. The officials huddled and while Williams' interception stood, the td was wiped out by a phantom clip penalty and LSU instead of lining up for a point after and 14-0 lead had the ball on the Tigers' own 15.
Alabama scored on the second play of the 2nd qtr after a fake punt on 4th and 2 near midfield went for 19 yds. The Tide led 14-10 at halftime after another LSU penalty took a field goal off the scoreboard. After going up 17-10, Alabama recovered a fumbled LSU punt at the 3 and went in for the score on third down and the final score was set up on a 37 yd pass to the LSU 5 on third down to win 31-10.
Still,had Williams' interception return for a td held, who knows what would have happened with a 14-0 lead and if LSU had won, its doubtful the Board of Supervisors would have fired McClendon 3 days later (allowing him a lame duck '79 season).That certainly contributed to LSU's 16-14 loss and flat play in Jackson vs Miss State the next week.
I know you were dying to hear all of that.
Still that '78 LSU team remains a very interesting one.They were pre-season #13 and given a good shot by some to unseat Alabama as SEC Champ.Charles Alexander was back for his senior year and mentioned for the Heisman.Unfortunately they slopped around in the first two games which were the first two with the original West upper deck with Indiana and Wake Forest.Seemed to get it togethor at Rice and at Florida. Came home #10 to face Georgia (for the first time since '52.
LSU led 17-7 at halfime but "Run Lindsey Run" Scott ran the second half kickoff back 99 yds for a td and Georgia got 10 more third qtr points off LSU turnovers to win 24-17.
The Tigers regrouped and went to Birmingham 6-1 and ranked #10 again to face #3 Alabama at Legion Field.LSU scored on its second drive with a 25 yd scoring pass from David Woodley to Carlos Carson to go up 7-0.After a couple of first downs on Alabama's next possession Chris Williams intercepted a Jeff Rutledge pass and ran it in for an apparent touchdown to go up 13-0. The officials huddled and while Williams' interception stood, the td was wiped out by a phantom clip penalty and LSU instead of lining up for a point after and 14-0 lead had the ball on the Tigers' own 15.
Alabama scored on the second play of the 2nd qtr after a fake punt on 4th and 2 near midfield went for 19 yds. The Tide led 14-10 at halftime after another LSU penalty took a field goal off the scoreboard. After going up 17-10, Alabama recovered a fumbled LSU punt at the 3 and went in for the score on third down and the final score was set up on a 37 yd pass to the LSU 5 on third down to win 31-10.
Still,had Williams' interception return for a td held, who knows what would have happened with a 14-0 lead and if LSU had won, its doubtful the Board of Supervisors would have fired McClendon 3 days later (allowing him a lame duck '79 season).That certainly contributed to LSU's 16-14 loss and flat play in Jackson vs Miss State the next week.
I know you were dying to hear all of that.
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