The 2006 LSU Tigers football team represented

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

in the

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

season of 2006–2007. The team was coached by

Les Miles Leslie Edwin Miles (born November 10, 1953) is a former American football coach. He most recently served as the head coach at Kansas. His head coaching career began with the Oklahoma State Cowboys, where he coached from 2001 to 2004. Following t ...

. It played its home games at Tiger Stadium in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties i ...

. The team won a bid to play in the

Bowl Championship Series The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, including ...

Allstate Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...

at the

Louisiana Superdome The Caesars Superdome, commonly known as the Superdome (formerly known as Mercedes-Benz Superdome), is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home stadium of the New Orleans Saints ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, playing No. 11 Notre Dame on January 3, 2007.

Previous season

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

was a successful season under first year head coach Les Miles. He led the team to an 11–2 record and an appearance in the

SEC championship game The SEC Championship Game is an annual American football game that has determined the Southeastern Conference's season champion since 1992. The championship game pits the SEC East Division regular season champion against the West Division regula ...

despite the distractions caused by

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

Pre-season

The 2006 LSU Tigers football team was ranked in the top 10 in the country by multiple publications and were expected to compete for the SEC championship.

Schedule

Honors

Game summaries

UL-Lafayette

This game was the

Season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

opener for Tigers. The game was being played in front of the home crowd in

Death Valley Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. During summer, it is the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth. Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the ...

. Last years season opener was a 35 to 31 win for the tigers. LSU V UL-Lafayette, Already five minutes into the game LSU had a 14–0 lead off an offensive drive down field and a defensive turnover. From this point on, LSU rolled on to win the game 45 to 3.

Arizona

This game was broadcast around the nation on

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

. This game was played at home. The game was over when

JaMarcus Russell JaMarcus Trenell Russell (born August 9, 1985) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for three seasons with the Oakland Raiders. Highly successful at LSU, where he was MVP of the 2007 Sugar ...

threw his first TD of the night late in the first quarter to make it 17–0 LSU. The LSU defense limited Arizona to 156 total yards and recovered four

Wildcats The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the ...

turnovers. Arizona's third-down efficiency was only one of the Wildcats problems in Baton Rouge.

Auburn

Last year LSU pulled it out against Auburn, beating them 20 to 17 in

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society), ...

. This was a game between No. 3 Auburn and No. 6 LSU. This was the first away game for the Tigers, and it would be controversial one. LSU came into the game with a string of 14 quarters without allowing a touchdown, they also came in with the best defense in the country. It would go down to the last play of the game. This game would have two elements: two punishing defenses, a pivotal officials' call that left both sides a bit perplexed and some follies in the kicking game. With LSU facing fourth-and-8 from Auburn's 31 and 2:43 left, JaMarcus Russell fired the ball to

Early Doucet Early Joseph Doucet III (born October 28, 1985) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the third round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played college football at Louisiana State University. Early year ...

near the goal line. A diving Eric Brock deflected the pass, but Zach Gilbert was called for pass interference that would have kept the drive alive. The officials overturned the call, although replays showed the contact came before the ball was tipped by Brock. On the whole, there were anywhere between 5 and 8 questionable calls against LSU, and LSU fans felt cheated by the outcome, giving this game the nickname Grand Theft Auburn. The Tigers drove to Auburn's 24 with 2.5 seconds left as Russell hooked up with Craig Davis for gains of 20 and 21 yards and

Dwayne Bowe Dwayne Lorenzo Bowe (born September 21, 1984) is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football at Louisiana State University, and was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He played ...

for 21. On the final play, Russell went to Davis again. The receiver caught the pass inside the 10, but Brock stopped him cold with a jarring hit at the 4. "It was a low throw on the final play, but it was not JaMarcus' fault", Davis said. "I was expecting it to be a jump ball in the end zone." Underscoring the physical nature of the game, the two teams combined for less than 2 yards a rush on 61 combined carries.

Tulane

LSU brought

Tulane Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

's 14-game span away from

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

to a merciless and painful end. Early Doucet caught two touchdown passes and ran for a third score as the No. 9 Tigers jumped out to a large early lead in a 49–7 victory over Tulane on Saturday night.

Mississippi State

#9 LSU would take on Mississippi State in Baton Rouge. The game would take place at 11:30 am CST. JaMarcus Russell, who

orchestrated Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

the Tigers' 48–17

throttling A throttle is any mechanism by which the power or speed of an engine is controlled. Throttle or throttling may also refer to: Fiction * ''Throttle'' (film), a 2005 thriller * ''Throttle'' (novella), a 2009 novella by Stephen King and his son Jo ...

of the

Bulldogs The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.Tony Joiner of Florida with 3:00 left in the game.

Kentucky

Fresno St.

There was a lot of excitement when this game was scheduled because Fresno State had been a top 25 team the previous season. In fact, they took No. 1 USC down to the wire and almost beat them. For this reason, ESPN decided to telecast this game nationally. Unfortunately, Fresno State underperformed this season and LSU took advantage of this early and often, winning 38–6.

Tennessee

LSU QB

threw a touchdown pass with 9 seconds remaining to give the LSU Tigers a 28–24 victory over Tennessee. The Vols looked good at times during the game, but could not make a stop on LSU's final drive of the game, which consumed 7:14 from the clock. QB Erik Ainge, starting with a sore ankle, was replaced in the 1st quarter by

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

freshman

Jonathan Crompton Jonathan David Crompton (born July 25, 1987) is a former American football quarterback having briefly been a member of the New England Patriots, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Washington Redskins after being drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the fi ...

. Crompton performed well for his first significant action, connecting on two long touchdown passes to

Robert Meachem Robert Emery Meachem (born September 28, 1984) is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football at Tennessee and was drafted by the New Orleans Saints 27th overall in the 2007 NFL draft. Meachem also played one season ...

. On Defense, Tennessee intercepted Russell 3 times and recovered 1 fumble.

Alabama

Ole Miss

Arkansas

The No. 9 ranked LSU Tigers final regular season game was in Little Rock, Arkansas against the No. 5 ranked Arkansas Razorbacks. The Razorbacks only loss to this point of the season was a 50–14 defeat at the hands of the No. 3 ranked USC Trojans. LSU lead most of the game holding a 14–12 half time lead, but in the fourth quarter Arkansas made their push. With 10:31 remaining in the fourth quarter

Darren McFadden Darren McFadden (born August 27, 1987) is a former American football running back. He played college football for the Arkansas Razorbacks and was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the first round with the fourth overall pick of the 2008 NFL Dra ...

scored on an 80-yard touchdown run to cut the LSU lead to 24–19. LSU responded with a 92-yard kickoff return by Trindon Holliday. Holliday's kick return proved to be the difference in a 31–26 LSU win.

Sugar Bowl

In a game that was advertised as a battle between the nations top-2 quarterbacks (LSU QB

vs. ND QB

Brady Quinn Brayden Tyler "Brady" Quinn (born October 27, 1984) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football at Notre Dame, where he won the Maxwell Award, and w ...

), Russell and the LSU Tigers made sure the praise was one-sided. Russell set career high marks for yardage and TD's (3) before sealing a 41–14 victory. Russell would use this to springboard himself to the top of the 2007 draft boards as he was selected number 1 over by the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

, while Quinn, a hopeful number 1 overall pick himself, fell all the way to the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

at pick 22.

LSU Tigers in the 2007 National Football League Draft

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/2007.htm

References

{{LSU Tigers football navbox

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

LSU Tigers football seasons Sugar Bowl champion seasons

LSU Tigers football The LSU Tigers football program, also known as the Fighting Tigers, represents Louisiana State University in college football. The Tigers compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) an ...