Remembering "Battle For The Rag" - LSU's long lost Rivalry game

I've always been a bit jealous of other SEC teams and the energy build up during Rivalry Week. LSU hasn't felt that in decades.
In honor of Rivalry week, I feel it is appropriate to reminisce an old lost SEC rivalry: BATTLE FOR THE RAG: LSU vs. Tulane



Since Tulane left the SEC in 1966 and their program fell apart, there has not been a competitive team that hates LSU more than anyone else.
Several attempts have been made to reestablish an arch rival for LSU, but all have failed. LSU's rivals seem to always hate someone else more:

Ole Miss hates Miss St more than LSU
Auburn and Alabama hate each other more than LSU
Florida hates Georgia and FSU more than LSU

The SEC attempted to manufacture a rivalry between LSU and Arkansas with "The Boot" trophy in the 90s, but recently Arkansas surrendered by moving the Mizzou game to Rivalry week. The only other annual opponent to have any sort of recent success against LSU is Mississippi State. With 3 wins against the Tigers since 2000. No other team not mentioned has that many wins against LSU in that timeframe.
For now, all we can do is remember the once bitter rivalry with Tulane.

LSU vs Tulane:
In 1893, Louisiana's first intercollegiate game of football was played between the LSU Tigers and Tulane Green Wave. Tulane won 34-0
Over the next half century, the Tigers and Green Wave played almost every year in what became one of college football's most heated rivalries. These days LSU is without an arch rival (so we just hate everyone), but in the early 20th century, the hatred in this rivalry game was on par with Alabama-Auburn and Ohio State-Michigan. However, in the 1950s, LSU dominated the series, and Tulane decided to reduce its focus and spending on athletics. The rivalry continued annually until the mid 1990s and returned briefly in the early 2000's, but Tulane won only 4 of the 32 games played since they left the SEC in 1966. LSU and Tulane last met on the field during the 2009 season.


"Tulane was always the big game. It was Tulane, and no matter what, you just had to beat Tulane." - Jim Fourmy (LSU QB in 1905)

Memorable Games:

1934 - Tulane defeats LSU for SEC title
It was a huge shock to Tiger fans when Tulane upset LSU 13-12 to capture the SEC championship, and their action was summed up by Peter Finney: “LSU fans we too shocked for any post-game free-for-all. Leaving the stands, one weeping woman summed up what must still stand as the most bitter defeat of the ancient series. ‘If it had been anyone but those SOBs,’ she said dejectedly."

1938: The Riot
The Tigers played rough football right from the beginning, and a late hit after an attempted pass by Tulane’s All-SEC halfback Warn “Bronco” Brunner suffered a broken ankle in the first quarter. From that point onward the game became rough and bitter and finally culminated in a fist fight on the field between the opposing teams and a huge battle between the fans after the game. It is for this fight, or rather riot, that the game is most widely known.
However, the game is extremely interesting from an historical perspective not only because of the riot, but for two other reasons.
(1) the shift in dominance from LSU to Tulane in the late 1930s,
(2) the famous brawl and the tradition of the “Rag” which emerged from it
(3) the emergence of Tulane halfback Bob “Jitterbug” Kellogg, one of the greatest backs to ever don the Olive and the Blue.


1940: The creation of "THE RAG"
After the riot in the previous matchup both schools joined together to create "The Rag", in an effort to promote good sportsmanship. Its name came from the LSU fight song Tiger Rag and was used as the trophy for the wining team each year. The original flag was lost in a fire at Tulane in 1982. the flag contain the logos for both LSU and Tulane along with the Louisiana State Seal.


1950: Tulane Students Steal Mike the Tiger

On the eve of the Tulane-LSU game in 1950, 3 Tulane students noticed a trailer with a long cage being towed by a car parked at a restaurant in New Orleans. Inside the cage was Mike, the living, breathing, roaring mascot for LSU. Mike’s custodian was was inside the restaurant and was assigned to transport Mike to the LSU-Tulane Game in New Orleans. The three students couldn’t resist. They unhitched the trailer and hooked it with a chain to their 1942 Plymouth. After a police officer became suspicious and stopped them, they convinced him they were escorting the 500-pound tiger to Tulane’s Stadium, site of the old Sugar Bowl. (At one point, the chain came loose and the trailer passed them on the road.)

The cat-nappers made a triumphant return to campus. They circled the trailer behind the barracks and a crowd gathered in the wee hours of the morning. Several students wanted to paint Mike green — Tulane’s mascot is the Green Wave — but the partners in crime had no intention of harming the animal. They were just having some fun. They had planned to hold the tiger captive until halftime of the game the next day, but the dean of students suggested Mike be taken to a safe location off campus. When the sun came up the next morning, there were local radio reports about Mike’s abduction. LSU officials issued a statement, pleading for the hostage-takers to refrain from feeding the tiger because Mike was on a special diet.

The police showed up and took the 3 students into custody. They were not charged, but later were banned from LSU’s campus. Since then, Mike no longer travels to away games. The 1950 game ended in a 14-14 tie. In the mid-1980s, pranksters cut the lock on his cage before another Tulane game, allowing Mike IV to run free on campus and demolish a few small pine trees. No one was injured.


2007: First game after Katrina
LSU and Tulane met in the superdome with LSU wearing special uniforms to honor the victims of Hurricane Katrina.



I've been told stories of many more classic games between LSU and Tulane. However, they were so long ago that there is little information regarding most of them. Many old timers have told me about the train that Tulane fans would ride to Baton Rouge. The train would stop right next to tiger stadium, where fans created a giant tailgate in the grass surrounding the tracks. The train would stay there until Tulane fans reboarded after the game. I wish there was a picture of this. Hopefully one day this rivalry will return.