BATON ROUGE — LSU capped the 2006 football season ranked among the top five in the nation in five statistical categories, including a No. 3 national ranking in total defense.
The Tigers recently completed one of the most successful seasons in school history with a 41-14 win over Notre Dame in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. The victory over the Irish sent the Tigers to an 11-2 overall mark. LSU finished the year ranked No. 3 in the nation in both major polls.
The Tigers, behind a defensive effort that limited 11th-ranked Notre Dame to just 30 yards in the second half of the Sugar Bowl, allowed only 242.8 yards per game in 2006. The 242.8 yards ranked No. 3 in the nation behind Virginia Tech (219.5) and TCU (234.9).
The 242.8 yards allowed by the Tigers were the fewest at the school since 1976 when LSU limited its opponents to 233.1 yards in 11 games.
The Tigers were also No. 3 nationally in pass defense and pass efficiency defense and No. 4 in scoring defense. For the year, LSU held its 13 opponents to an average of 12.6 points per game. LSU allowed just 145.7 yards passing per contest while having a pass defense efficiency rating of 92.1.
Offensively, the Tigers, behind quarterback JaMarcus Russell, averaged 33.7 points per game, a figure that ranked No. 9 in the nation. LSU also ranked No. 4 in the nation in pass efficiency with a 163.3 rating. In 13 games, the Tigers completed 245 of 368 passes for 3,272 yards, 30 touchdowns and only nine interceptions.
Individually, Russell led the Southeastern Conference and ranked No. 3 in the nation in pass efficiency, completing 232 of 342 passes for 3,129 yards and a school-record tying 28 touchdowns. Russell finished the year with just eight interceptions and with a passer rating of 167.0.