USD Football 1996

REBORN ON THE BAYOU CONTINUED

DiNardo and the Tigers seem to be pointed in the right direction.

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Cleveland (32) and Faulk (3) lead the way in LSU's talented offensive backfield.

'Tve aeen to Ann Araor, with m{~~~ in the seats, anu yon uon't get near the noise you get uown here. Ifs asweet sounu rn like to keep hearinf

"But it's not going to be easy replacing two q uali ty defensive ends-Gabe orthern andJames Gillyard- and two quality defen– sive backs-ToryJames and Talvi Crawford . On the other side of the ball, we've got to make up for the loss of two guys-Eddie Ken– nison and Sheddrick Wilson– who caught 1,600 yards worth of passes. " So with an eye on recruit– ing, DiNardo got maximum use o ut of last year's Independence Bowl game by ho ld ing three YEARS . : : : OVERALL RECORD : ..

seasons before drawing a DiNar– do suspension in '95. Perhaps the best evidence of the DiNardo touch came last year when sen ior quarterback Jamie Howard was lost for the sea– son in a 10-3 loss to Alabama. In came freshma n Herbert Tyler to spark the closing three-victo– ry surge, completing 65 pe1·cent of his passes, five for touchdowns, good enough to grab a spot on the SEC's All-Freshman team. "We've got a chance to be a real good team," DiNardo said.

GER.RY 0 1 NAIU)O, H EAD COACH, LSU

up within hours, one anxious fan flew to East Lansing, Mich., to buy ti ckets. This year, season-ticket sales are expected to hit 45,000, a jump of 7,000 over '95. "There's a charm to the LSU fan ," DiNardo will tell you. ''Unlike Mi chigan fans, they really get with it. I've been to Ann Arbor, with 104,000 in the seats, and you don't get near the noise you get down here. It's a sweet sound I'd like to keep hearing." a

practices at three different high schools. When LSU 's allotment of 12,000 tickets was gobbled

SEC RECORD . . :

BOWL GAMES •

BLSTOHl"\C Tl 11 : IW \B From 1958 to 1988,

2 -5 -0 2 -5-0 3 -4-0 1-7-0 3-5-0 3-5-0 4 - 3- 1

1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

0 0 0 0 0 1

5 -6 -0 5 -6 -0 2 -9 -0 5 -6-0 4 -7 -0 7-4-1

LSU was consistently one of the nation's top teams, suffering just three losing sea~ons during that time. But the Tigers then went through six straight losing years before regaining their winning ways in 1995.

PETER FINNEY

*Won 1958 national championship

**Won or shared five SEC titles from 1958-88

is a sportswriter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

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