If you're an Louisiana football fan, you may still be riding a high from Saturday's slate of college football. Tulane dominated Northwestern, and Tulane's Jon Sumrall dropped a phenomenal quote warning people not to disrespect New Orleans. Alabama got thrashed, and most importantly, LSU finally got the first game monkey off their back. Soak all of this in for a week, but allow me to direct your attention to what it could mean for the New Orleans Saints.
LSU played in one of the biggest games of Week 1 versus Clemson. Playing power 4 opponents has become regular for the Tigers, but winning these games had been difficult lately. Losses come in many different forms, but they were typically devastating.
This time LSU pulled through with a late defensive stand to seal the victory. There's a large overlap between LSU fans and Saints fans, and if history repeats itself, LSU's win will be good news for fans of both.
Saints may be in line for double digit wins in year 1 of the Kellen Moore era
It's been well documented that the last time LSU won a season opener, they also went undefeated and won the national championship. Does that mean those things will happen again? Maybe. Hopefully. While it's not so cut and dry, it's nice to see what was happening around that time.
The last time LSU won their first game the Saints won 12 games. Their highest win total during LSU's losing streak has been 9. The Saints last trip to the playoffs also came in that 2019 season. LSU has seen a dip since that season, and so have the Saints. It's been rough football days in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, but maybe things are looking up.
The Saints find themselves in a massively different situation than they did five years ago. There's no Drew Brees. There's no Sean Payton. The Saints aren't viewed as Super Bowl contenders. Instead, the Saints are going into the season with first-year head coach Kellen Moore, an inexperienced Spencer Rattler at quarterback and with the expectation of landing in the top-five of next year's draft.
If the Saints surprise some people, don't say I didn't tell you. There's an overlap in Saints and LSU fans. That overlap carried over into a lack of success the past half-decade. It's time for the Saints to follow suit and breakthrough to the playoffs.