re: what is it like to root for a terrible team?

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We LSU fans had to watch some truly TERRIBLE teams in the early 1990s. I mean, terrible as in we had lost before the game started, terrible. I mean just bad. 1992 was probably the worst season ever.

The thing that keeps you going is the carrot on the stick -- the bowl game.

For instance, in 1991 (Curley's first year at LSU) we had a chance to get to 6 wins if we beat Miss St. and Tulane in our last two games (MSU at home). We, of course, lost to MSU by more than one score, with no chance to win. But we were all excited going in, only to be let down.

The same thing happened again in 1993 (bowl hopes crushed by Arkansas in last game) and 1994 (bowl hopes crushed by Bama, then we lost to Curley's old team Southern Miss - just to add insult to injury).

I'll never forget the breakthrough in 1995 (Dinardo's first year) when we beat Arkansas to get to 6 wins, then went on to beat Nick Saban's Michigan State team in the bowl game.

We were like "things are gonna be different with this guy." And they were for three years. But then the bottom fell out in 1998 and 1999 (still don't know what happened) and the rest is history. Enter Saban. Enter LSU's Golden Era.

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You really need to remind the younger LSU fans of that. They have no idea what it was like at LSU in the 90s.

Didn't Dinardo bring back the white jerseys though? Or was that Curly?

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Didn't Dinardo bring back the white jerseys though?

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Yes, that was Dinardo. He was so good for LSU in a lot of ways. He bought into our traditions and, in this case, even brought them back. He really made us all believe that LSU was a special place to watch and play football again.

He brought Kevin Faulk into the fold. He made the most of his inherited talent (Eddie Kennison, Kevin Mawae, Alan Faneca, Gabe Northern, Alan Stansbury). He even made Herb Tyler look like an All-SEC caliber QB at times. He had LSU to the point where we were better than any team in the league not named Florida or Bama (even beat BOTH of those teams in 1997 - but inexplicably lost to Ole Miss and Auburn).

I am still confused about what happened in 98-99. The best I can remember, 1998 was really a series of heartbreaking losses for LSU.

One point loss to Georgia at home.
Three point loss to Kentucky at home.
Six point loss to Ole Miss in OT on the road.
Three point loss to Notre Dame in South Bend.

That's just the way things went in 98. By the end, Gerry had lost the team, and it showed in 1999. I am convinced those close losses in 1998 are the root cause for Gerry losing his job.

Others will tell you it was his loyalty to DC Tepper.

Any way you slice it....if not for 1998 Gerry Dinardo would probably still be LSU's HC, for better or for worse.

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Yes, that was Dinardo. He was so good for LSU in a lot of ways. He bought into our traditions and, in this case, even brought them back. He really made us all believe that LSU was a special place to watch and play football again.

He brought Kevin Faulk into the fold. He made the most of his inherited talent (Eddie Kennison, Kevin Mawae, Alan Faneca, Gabe Northern, Alan Stansbury). He even made Herb Tyler look like an All-SEC caliber QB at times. He had LSU to the point where we were better than any team in the league not named Florida or Bama (even beat BOTH of those teams in 1997 - but inexplicably lost to Ole Miss and Auburn).

I am still confused about what happened in 98-99. The best I can remember, 1998 was really a series of heartbreaking losses for LSU.

One point loss to Georgia at home.
Three point loss to Kentucky at home.
Six point loss to Ole Miss in OT on the road.
Three point loss to Notre Dame in South Bend.

That's just the way things went in 98. By the end, Gerry had lost the team, and it showed in 1999. I am convinced those close losses in 1998 are the root cause for Gerry losing his job.

Others will tell you it was his loyalty to DC Tepper.

Any way you slice it....if not for 1998 Gerry Dinardo would probably still be LSU's HC, for better or for worse.

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I thought it was Dinardo. I agree, he did do a lot of good things at LSU and laid a nice foundation for Saban.

From my perspective, outside looking in, LSU's issues haven't been talent but getting someone to put that talent on the same page and getting it to work together.

LSU should be the elite athletic program in the SEC (baseball, football and basketball), and with the right people in control it can be that program.

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what is it like to root for a terrible team?

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It sucks. The Shula years were pretty much forgettable except the smoke and mirror '05 season. The two years we were banned from bowls pretty much ended CFB for me at the end of November.

That's a good idea.

In an odd way, rooting for a truly terrible team was kinda fun. Going 1-10 in 1998 sucked. Going 0-11 in 1999 was a really fun year. We had zero expectations -- even while we had this crazy optimism with Lou Holtz. The fans were super-motivated and we packed the WB every single game.

The team was incredibly bad. Our offense averaged only 6.8 points per game. We lost every game by double digits except Vandy (who beat us 11-10).

It was different than the chicken curse. Under the chicken curse, we were doomed to perpetual mediocrity. We would win just enough to give us hope -- only to have our hopes and dreams dashed by some late season collapse. The 21-game losing streak was not like that -- we knew it was hopeless so we just went with it.

It made the 2000 season so incredibly sweat. Breaking the streak with a win over New Mexico State was awesome -- who would have thought you could be excited over beating that awful team? But the next week, with Heisman hopeful Quincy Carter throwing 5 picks in a 21-10 upset on ESPN -- that was an amazing day. Goalposts came down after both games - which inspired the University to install collapsable ones so it can't happen again. And then to go on with an Outback Bowl victory over Ohio State -- yeah it was amazing.

It may sound crazy to fans who are used to winning big, but 1999 and 2000 were the best years to be a Gamecock fan.

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How do you deal with the disappointment week after week?

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Play NCAA on JV.

Call it a 'rebuilding year'.

Didn't read thread, sorry if Germs.

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Fsu will be ranked higher than us so we could upset them too.

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I'm not a fan of Free Shoes U. Please beat them.

It may not be the championship season that you Gators are used to but I dont think you will have a mediocre season either. I believe that you may have 2 to 3 losses but overall ,imo that is not a bad season.