BATON ROUGE — As the Gulf Coast continues to try to put back the pieces following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, LSU and the New Orleans Saints shared something in common on the football field last weekend – playing for the state of Louisiana.
Both teams did Louisiana proud, LSU coming from behind in the fourth quarter to post a 35-31 victory over 15th-ranked Arizona State in Tempe and the Saints kicking a field goal with just three seconds left in a 23-20 win over the Carolina Panthers.
Now both teams are featured on this week’s cover of Sports Illustrated, which hits the news stands on Wednesday. The SI cover is titled, “After the Storm” with the subtitle reading, ‘The New Orleans Saints and LSU Tigers Bring Home Emotional Victories in the Wake of Disaster’.
The SI cover cover features Saints quarterback Aaron Brooks embracing kicker John Carney following the game-winning field goal with a picture of three LSU players in the bottom corner of the magazine.
In the bottom right-hand corner, LSU’s Joseph Addai, Ronnie Prude and Bennie Brazell are pictured holding hands saying a prayer prior to the Tigers’ game against Arizona State.
Kelli Anderson covered the LSU-Arizona State game and penned a sidebar titled, “Home Is Where The Heart Is,” which details how the Tigers overcame the hurricane, traveling 1,400 miles for a “home game” as well as a fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Sun Devils in the first game of the Les Miles era.