Thing is, though, I don't have any recollection of LSU being any good until they got Nick Saban as their coach. To me, they were just another team we beat pretty much every year, with an odd upset now and then. Going back to before my time, I might find that I am wrong about them historically, but we had to pay property tax in Baton Rouge for a long time because we owned them.
LSu historically has been an "above average" program - going to bowls most years, but most of the time not "world beater". They won a NC in the 1950's when Alabama was in the tank. - But heck, I think every team in the SEC won a NC during the Whitworth era....
They had a pretty good coach in the 60's and 70's - "Chollie Mac" McClendon (shocker- a Bryant Disciple from his time at Kentucky). McClendon had some darn good teams and might have dominated the SEC in those two decades..... If not for "you know who".
Then they had a pretty good coach for a couple years in the 1980's - Bill Arnsparger - who would have dominated the SEC for years, except that he could only stomach about two years in Baton Rouge before resigning to take the AD job at Florida (Factoid: Arsparger is credited with hiring Steve Spurrier in December 1989).
And other than that, LSu has pretty much been a mediocre program up to the time they hired Nick Saban. But give Les Miles some credit - Les was himself a pretty medocre coach (in terms of W's and L's) prior to taking the LSu job - but he managed to keep that "machine" running pretty well for nearly a decade - and that's pretty rare territory for a "Caretaker" type coach.
FWIW, I give "sling blade" Ogeron about another two years - three max. Unless he can pull and upset over us. That would be worth another 2-3 years, assuming he's winning around 8-9 games a year otherwise.
