BATON ROUGE — When Chad Jones returned a punt 93 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter against Mississippi State last week, it immediately took those who saw it down memory lane.
Jones’ return proved to be the winning points in seventh-ranked LSU’s 30-26 victory over Mississippi State in Starkville.
Before Jones even crossed the goalline, comparisons to Billy Cannon’s punt return on Halloween night in Tiger Stadium against Ole Miss in 1959 were already being made.
Ron Higgins from the Memphis Commercial Appeal wrote of Jones’ return, “It wasn’t Billy, but it still was a dilly. So maybe it didn’t have the drama of LSU’s Billy Cannon’s fabled 89-yard punt return on Halloween night 1959 against Ole Miss. But with the No. 7 Tigers being pushed to the limit by Mississippi State on Saturday, LSU returner Chad Jones, like Cannon, decided to field a punt at the last moment and turned it into a breathless dash through a scrambling coverage team.”
It also brought back memories of the night in 1994 when Eddie Kennison fielded a punt in the endzone against Mississippi State and then raced 100 yards for a touchdown in the 44-24 LSU victory.
Some other great punt return moments in LSU history include the night the Tigers returned three punts for touchdowns in a 61-17 win over Ole Miss in Tiger Stadium in 1970. The win over Ole Miss clinched the SEC title for the Tigers and put LSU in the Orange Bowl against Nebraska.
Against Ole Miss that night in 1970, Tommy Casanova had two of those returns ? the first being a 61-yarder in the second quarter that put the Tigers up 21-10. Casanova added a 74-yard punt return in the fourth quarter, putting the Tigers up 54-17. LSU’s other punt return for a score against the Rebels came from Craig Burns, who went 61 yards for a TD in the third quarter.
There have been many more great punt returns in LSU history, including: Todd Kinchen’s 74-yarder the helped the Tigers beat Kentucky in Lexington in 1991; Skyler Green’s 80-yard return against Florida in Tiger Stadium in 2003; Kenny Konz’s 92-yard return against Tulane in 1949; and Joe Labruzzo’s 83-yarder in the season-opener against Texas A&M in 1963.