LSU football: 5 best seasons in program history

For LSU’s second-greatest season of all time, we have to go way back to 1958 when Paul Dietzel’s team went 11-0 (6-0) en route to the first claimed national championship in school history. As with Nick Saban decades later, Dietzel would only coach at LSU for a handful of years before leaving for another job. However, his 1958 team wasn’t just dominant, but an innovative one.

At the time, a player could only be subbed out twice per quarter. So what Dietzel did is create three units on his team to help with widespread substitution and help his team be more efficient. Those three teams were known as the “White Team”, the “Go Team” and the “Chinese Bandits”. The “White Team” was first-team offense and defense, featuring players who could play both ways.

The “Go Team” was essentially the second-team offense. And the “Chinese Bandits” were the feisty second-team defense comprised mostly of underclassmen chomping at the bit for playing time. Star players on this 1958 LSU team were future Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon and future Pro Football Hall of Famer Johnny Robinson. Cannon won the Heisman a year later in 1959.

LSU beat every team it played in 1958, including three dates against ranked teams. Four of their wins were shut outs, including over No. 6 Ole Miss in a huge rivalry game and No. 12 Clemson in the Sugar Bowl. Dietzel would leave for Army after the 1961 season, but his tenure became the glory days of LSU football prior to Saban’s arrival in Baton Rouge in 2000.