We Just Witnessed the Reawakening

On Friday afternoon I made a Twitter post about something that was special to me at the time. For those of you that don’t know, I recently moved a few months ago and I was cleaning some things out of the shelves in my old garage. Buried underneath a whole bunch of junk I found the Old Man’s LSU license plate. My dad passed away 20 years ago in January so that license plate hasn’t been used since 2006 and it even still has an expiration date on it of 07.

Fast forward to Friday morning, one of my wife’s best friend’s mom died after a battle with cancer. It got me thinking, here I am so excited about LSU Football and getting everything ready for my tailgate but in reality, it pales in comparison to the things that really matter in life.

Later on Friday afternoon I got to thinking, there were a lot of LSU fans that we impactful to me and my life that are no longer with us. How excited would they be going into this season and this opener with this new coach and this new roster? I thought of my father who died 20 years ago, my grandfather, who was born outside of Jackson, Mississippi, who died 5 years ago, and the best man at my mom and dad’s wedding, Uncle Chief as we called him, who died earlier this year. 

That was when I made the decision that I wanted to honor them. That was when I remembered that old license plate. After briefly thinking about illegally replacing it with my current license plate, common sense returned to me. Instead, I decided to put that old license plate on the front of my truck to honor all of those that came before us who taught us to love (or in some cases like mine forced me to love) our fighting Tigers of LSU. 

Fast forward to forty-eight hours after the I decided to attempt and honor the past, I came to the realization that what had transpired on Saturday in Baton Rouge was way more than I had anticipated it. It was more than just a football game. It was more than just a blowout of the Clemson Tigers at the hands of the new look Fighting Tigers of LSU under Lane Kiffin. 

What we experienced on Saturday in Baton Rouge from the moment fighter jets buzzed tailgates all across campus to the moment Jordan Ross scored a touchdown on an interception return that culminated in a celebration into the student section in the North Endzone was a rebirth of LSU Football on Saturday. There was so much anticipation (anticipation that lasted over two hours longer than expected) along with hope and excitement for what Lane Kiffin would bring to Baton Rouge. But we received so much more than we anticipated.

We were given everything that every Tiger fan has been longing for years. Every moment on Saturday was straight out of every Tiger fan’s best dreams. We all talk about how special this program, this state (its players) and this stadium are. We all talk about what it would be like to get the right guy in here and what it would look like. On Saturday, everything came together and it looked exactly what we had always pictured. 

What it looked like on Saturday was a drumming of a proud, but on the decline, Clemson program to the tune of 51-10. The Bayou Bengals outgained those other Tigers by over 500 yards behind the legs of Dillon Jones and the Bucking Bronco Sam Leavitt. On the other side of the ball Blake Baker’s squad looked as smothering as the peak Summer heat and humidity of South Louisiana while oppressing and overwhelming those other Tigers to 143 yards of total offense with 71 of those yards coming against LSU’s second defensive unit on the last drive of the game.

The rebirth, or better yet the reawakening, of the sleeping giant that is LSU Football started early on Saturday morning and lasted well into the late hours of the night when Death Valley is at its very best. While we have seen glimpses like this in the past when the mighty sleeping giant of LSU Football rise up, flex its muscles, and then shortly after go take a nap. But right now, this program, this state, these players and this coach all seem to be poised for sustainability.  On Saturday, unfortunately for Dabo Sweeney the meal for Lane Kiffin and this iteration of the awakened giant was Little Ole Clempson.

We don’t know what the future holds and those that came before us would likely tell us to take the time appreciation the good times like we experienced. However, I can’t shake the exciting feeling that there is no siesta in sight.  Instead, this may be the first of many more things to come.

Daniel Camp

The Geaux Team

September 7, 2026