The tradition of football in the state of Louisiana is strong. From LSU to Tulane to Southern, this sport runs deep within the state’s blood.
LSU is lucky in the sense that it doesn’t have a natural rival in the state. There’s not another Power Five school in Louisiana.
However, there are 11 Division I programs in the state that play football (New Orleans is the lone school to not have the sport), including five at the FBS level.
Along with LSU, there’s Louisiana, ULM, Louisiana Tech and Tulane. At the FCS level, there’s also Grambling, McNeese, Nicholls, Northwestern State, Southeastern and Southern.
This weekend, Southern is set to travel to Jackson State, where ESPN’s College GameDay pregame show will also be in attendance. It’ll be GameDay’s first trip to an HBCU and first trip to an FCS school since 2019.
The spotlight will be on Deion Sanders and Jackson State. After all, the Tigers have earned it. To many, Southern will be nothing but an afterthought on Saturday.
But the Southern helmet is still going to sit in front of that ESPN desk on national television for three hours on Saturday morning. A lot of people that don’t know the school exists suddenly will.
When Southern faced LSU in September, it was beneficial for the city and the state. LSU knows that, too. It’s why the Tigers continually schedule these in-state schools and run camps together.
Whether the reasons are selfish or not, LSU wants these schools to be good at football. More good football players in the state — whether at the high school or college level — means there’s a better chance more good football players end up at LSU.
Imagine what this LSU secondary would look like if it weren’t for [autotag]Mekhi Garner[/autotag] transferring from Louisiana and [autotag]Colby Richardson[/autotag] coming from McNeese.
We can talk about [autotag]Kyren Lacy[/autotag] too, a wide receiver who joined Garner from Louisiana.
It’s not a bad time for the state right now.
- LSU is 6-2 and coming off its most significant win yet.
- Tulane is 7-1, ranked and contending for a spot in the NY6.
- Southern is riding a four-game win streak and is 3-1 in conference play.
- Northwestern State is 3-0 in conference play
There are some struggles at other spots. Grambling has yet to win a conference game and Louisiana is in the midst of a rebuild, but those programs have strong foundations that can be worked with.
Jackson State will most likely get the win on Saturday, but Southern is a competent team, and I expect the Jaguars to be in this game. More eyes will be on this game than usual. It would be a big deal if Southern were to roll into Jackson and beat Deion’s team.
In the state of Louisiana, few things are of more importance than football. On LSU’s bye week, take some time to check out some other things happening in the state.
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