Getty Image
The last time LSU’s football team went undefeated was in 1958, and while it certainly won’t be an easy feat, the Tigers are currently two games away from a perfect year after securing the top spot in the College Football National Playoff following their win over Georgia in the SEC Championship Game last weekend.
There are plenty of people you can point to when it comes to picking who’s responsible for LSU’s success this season—perhaps most notably Joe Burrow, who is virtually guaranteed to take home the Heisman Trophy when everything was said and done.
However, you have to give some major credit to head coach Ed Orgeron, who took over for Les Miles following the team’s underwhelming start to the 2016 season.
Orgeron has more than held his own over the past few years, and while his next two games (assuming they win against Oklahoma) will likely be his biggest test, he’ll still have cemented himself as one of college football’s premier coaches.
Coach O has followed a long path to get to where he is today—a path that included a couple of stints at USC, where he most recently served as the interim head coach following Lane Kiffin’s firing.
Orgeron would go 6-2 during his time at the helm of the Trojans, but when the season ended, the team decided Steve Sarkisian would make a better fit (a decision they almost immediately regretted after his drinking problem repeatedly reared its ugly head).
It’s not entirely clear what led USC to pick Sarkisian over Orgeron, but if a report from 247Sports is to be believed, it came down to one incredibly unlikely culprit: Coach O’s voice.
Seriously.
Here’s what insider Bruce Feldman had to say:
“I think what you have is a guy who has continued to evolve. He made a huge jump from when he was at Ole Miss to when he was at USC. I think he’s made a significant jump after that, but I really think it’s a USC issue.
You have a lot of people at USC, especially during the Pat Haden regime, who couldn’t get past what Ed Orgeron sounded like. They didn’t listen to the players. They didn’t listen to the staff.”
Does Orgeron sound exactly like the dad who dressed up in a Batman uniform to cheer on Denver in the Little League episode of South Park? Yes. Yes he does.
With that said, I find it hard to believe that would be a disqualifying factor when it comes to deciding who you want to coach your team.
Of course, when you consider Pat Haden decided to hire Sarkisian even though he knew he was a raging alcoholic, I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised by his questionable decision making.