LSU, Ohio State Share Common Bonds
BCS Title Participants Have History that Links the Programs Together
The ties that bind go beyond the 2007 Bowl Championship Series title game for LSU and Ohio State. The two teams have an associaton built upon both players and coaches.
LSU and Ohio State share more in common than just the fact that they’ll meet in the 2007 Bowl Championship Series title game on Jan. 7, 2008, in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.
Ohio State boasts of the son of a former LSU standout and another player whose family had its Louisiana home destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
Ohio State junior wide receiver Brian Robiskie was born to play football. His father, Terry, excelled as an LSU running back before becoming both a player and an assistant and head coach in the NFL.
Terry competed at LSU from 1973-76, having earned 1976 All-Southeastern Conference honors and 2976 SEC Most Valuable Player distinction. Through the 2007 season, he still remained in the Tigers’ Top 10 career rushing list with 578 carries for 2,517 yards and 29 touchdowns.
Ohio State junior defensive tackle Nader Abdallah grew up in the same New Orleans suburb of Metairie, La., as did LSU senior offensive tackle Carnell Stewart.
Stewart, during an interview on the LSU campus on Dec. 17, 2007, said the two lived in the same neighborhood and became friends in high school
Abdallah played for Metairie’s Archbishop Rummel, while Stewart played for perennial prep power John Curtis of River Ridge.
In Abdallah’s sophomore year, his parents and three siblings moved into his Columbus, Ohio, apartment after Hurricane Katrina destroyed their home. They have since returned in the hopes of rebuilding.
LSU third-year coach Les Miles is well aware of Ohio State’s tradition, having competed against the Buckeyes as an offensive lineman for Michigan from 1974-75. Miles later served as an assistant coach for Ohio State’s Big Ten Conference nemesis from 1980-81 and again from 1987-94.
Miles comes from a long line of Ohio-born coaches who have succeeded at their profession. That line stretches back to the 1950s for LSU, when Paul Dietzel began his seven-year reign as head coach in 1955 and guided the Tigers to the 1958 national championship.
Dietzel, who was born in Fremont, Ohio, was inducted into Miami of Ohio’s Cradle of Coaches Association in 1994, as was another former LSU head coach in Bill Arnsparger.
As an assistant coach at Army, Dietzel recruited the state of Ohio when Lee Tressel was the head coach at Mentor High School. Lee’s son, Jim, now serves as Ohio State’s head coach.
LSU and Ohio State aren’t as familiar with each other as opponents, but they did meet during the 1987 and 1988 regular seasons. They played to a 13-13 tie in1987 before Ohio State edged LSU in 1988, 36-33.
