BATON ROUGE — It turns out that LSU won’t have to go far for this year’s bowl game as the second-ranked Tigers will go after the school’s first national title in football in 45 years when they face third-ranked Oklahoma in the Nokia Sugar Bowl just 70 miles from the LSU campus.
LSU, champions of the Southeastern Conference, will face the Sooners, the No. 1 rated team in the Bowl Championship Series standings, at 7 p.m. on Jan. 4 at the Louisiana Superdome. The game will be televised to a national audience on ABC.
LSU won its only national title in football in 1958 when the Tigers finished the regular season with a 10-0 mark to win the crown. The Tigers then put an exclamation mark on their championship season with a 7-0 win over Clemson in the Sugar Bowl.
LSU will carry a 12-1 overall mark into the contest after last night’s 34-13 win over Georgia. The 12 victories are the most in school history in a single season. Oklahoma, who had been ranked No. 1 in the nation all season, dropped a 35-7 decision to Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday.
The LSU-Oklahoma matchup will be only the second between the teams as the squads squared off in the 1950 Sugar Bowl with the Sooners winning 35-0.
“I want to congratulate the entire university community,” LSU Chancellor Dr. Mark Emmert said of the team’s invite to the Nokia Sugar Bowl. “This is a remarkable accomplishment for our football team and entire program. These young men have worked so hard all year long and they have done everything that the coaching staff has asked them to do.
“What Nick (Saban) and his coaches have done is truly an amazing accomplishment that brings great attention and dignity and respect to this university. As university chancellor, I could not be happy enough with this result. It is an exclamation point to all the things we are trying to do at LSU. We want this university to be known for excellence in everything that we do, regardless of what it is. I couldn’t be excited or more proud of everybody that helped this program.”
The Tigers will be making their fourth straight bowl appearance, including their second in a BCS game under Saban. LSU beat Illinois, 47-34 in the 2002 Sugar Bowl. Saban is 2-1 in bowl games at LSU with wins over the Illini and Georgia Tech in the 2000 Peach Bowl.
“I would like to say how excited our football players are and our football team is and the coaching staff that we have the opportunity to go to the Nokia Sugar Bowl and be in the BCS Championship Game,” Saban said. “A lot of people have worked extremely hard and made a lot of sacrifices. We were basically in a must-win situation after the Florida game and for our players to play with that consistency to create this opportunity for them, speaks volumes of their character, their commitment and competitive spirit to excellence.
“I told the players today I know how happy they were for what they have accomplished, how happy I was for what they have accomplished. But truly I don’t think they understood what a tremendous impact they had on happiness and pride for so many people in the state of Louisiana by what they were able to accomplish. We have great feelings for that because we have the passion and pride of the people. We are very pleased that our team is able to bring some joy and happiness to that pride in terms of what this team was able to accomplish.”
The Tigers will be making their 12th appearance in the Sugar Bowl and their 35th overall in a bowl game. LSU is 16-17-1 overall in bowl games, which includes a 4-7 mark in the Sugar Bowl.
“I am really excited for the boys and of course excited for Nick and the coaching staff,” LSU director of athletics Skip Bertman said. “They did a tremendous job. They not only did it with touchdowns and field goals and great defense, they were tremendous student-athletes.”
The Tigers will take this week off as they concentrate on final exams before going back to practice in preparation for the Nokia Sugar Bowl the following week.
COMMENTS FROM LSU CHANCELLOR DR. MARK EMMERT, HEAD COACH NICK SABAN AND AD SKIP BERTMAN ON SUGAR BOWL INVITE
Chancellor Dr. Mark Emmert
“I want to congratulate the entire university community. This is a remarkable accomplishment for our football team and entire program. These young men have worked so hard all year long. These kids have done everything that the coaching staff has asked them to do. They have worked very, very hard, been very disciplined. They have been very focused to be able to ignore all of the hoopla and all of the nonsense around the media, community and on campus and to go out and play the game the way they did is something I am very proud of. What Nick (Saban) and his coaches have done, I think just can’t be overstated. It is truly an amazing accomplishment that brings great attention and dignity and respect to this university. As university chancellor, I could not be happy enough with this result. It is an exclamation point to all the things we are trying to do at LSU. We want this university to be known for excellence in everything that we do, regardless of what it is. I couldn’t be excited or more proud of everybody that helped this program.”
Director of Athletics Skip Bertman
“I am really excited for the boys and of course excited for Nick and the coaching staff. They did a tremendous job. They not only did it with touchdowns and field goals and great defense, they were tremendous student-athletes. It is a great business showing for the state of Louisiana. There will be hours and hours of free television advertisement for our university.”
Head Coach Nick Saban
“I would like to say how excited our football players are and our football team is and the coaching staff that we have the opportunity to go to the Nokia Sugar Bowl and be in the BCS Championship Game. A lot of people have worked extremely hard and made a lot of sacrifices dedicated to our focus that is very difficult to maintain and sustain over the length of time that our team has had to do it. We were basically in a must-win situation after the Florida game and for our players to play with that consistency to create this opportunity for themselves, speaks volumes of their character, their commitment and competitive spirit to excellence. I am very proud of that and proud to be associated with such a group. I think Chancellor Emmert and Skip deserve much more credit than they ever get, relative to what we have been able to accomplish as a football program. They have made a tremendous commitment from a university standpoint, from an institution standpoint that help set the table to give us the things that we need from a program standpoint, whether it is academics to help the players develop as people or something in the program that we need to help us recruit — scheduling, quality of facilities, whatever it has been, we always try to do it in a first class way. I think all those things contribute to the overall success of the program. I told the players today I know how happy they were for what they have accomplished, how happy I was for what they have accomplished. But truly I don’t think they understood what a tremendous impact they had on happiness and pride for so many people in the state of Louisiana by what they were able to accomplish. We have great feelings for that because we have the passion and pride of the people. We are very pleased that our team is able to bring some joy and happiness to that pride in terms of what this team was able to accomplish.”
On telling the team
“We were in a team meeting at 2 o’clock voting for captains, most valuable players, most inspirational player and Chancellor Emmert called me. I just told the players they were going to get an opportunity to play in the Sugar Bowl and play Oklahoma for the BCS Championship.
On the BCS outcome
“I never make a lot of comments about the BCS and the system. I have always tried to show respect and be loyal to the system that we have. I know a lot of quality people have worked long and hard to try to make the system as good as it could be. Whether it was us, Kansas State, whoever the culprits, the system was exposed a little bit this year for whatever reasons. There were three teams that everybody could make an argument or a justification for having the opportunity to play for the national championship. A team that is number one in both polls is not going to have the opportunity to do that, but with all things taken into consideration, the two teams that seemed to be the best, which is Oklahoma and LSU, are going to get the opportunity to do it. It is not a perfect system. I am sure that there will be some changes made because of this, and I am sure college football will be better because of it. If we had a four-team playoff this year, we would not have a problem.”
LSU TO ANNOUNCE SUGAR BOWL TICKET DISTRIBUTION ON MONDAY
On Monday, LSU will announce its procedure for distributing tickets to the 2004 Nokia Sugar Bowl.
The ticket distribution policy will be the same as utilized this season for road games and the SEC Championship. This policy was explained in the 2003 postseason ticket application mailed to season tickets holders in early in November.
LSU will play Oklahoma in the January 4 national championship game at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.
This will be LSU’s 12th appearance in the Sugar Bowl and its first appearance in the BCS title game.
LSU football season ticket holders had until Nov. 24 to apply for tickets to any of LSU’s potential bowl games. Applications for over 30,000 tickets to the Nokia Sugar Bowl have been received by the LSU Athletics Ticket Office.