Nick Saban and Will Muschamp probably still can't believe they lost to Ron Zook. (AP photo)
LSU picked an odd week to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of its 2003 national championship team. The Tigers will honor that group of players on a day when the program is taking on the only team it lost to that season: Florida.
Current Gators coach Will Muschamp was the defensive coordinator for that LSU team, and the memory of the Tigers’ 19-7 loss at home to UF still haunts him.
“That wasn’t a favorite one,” he said. “Old Ben Troupe and Ciatrick Fason got after us pretty good that day. And Chris Leak.”
“That day,” was exactly 10 years ago: Oct. 11, 2003. It will always be remembered as the day Ron Zook beat Nick Saban.
I want a 30 For 30 on Zook beating Saban. "What if I told you a man whose life is football lost to a guy whose best talent is waterskiing?"
— TUG (@UnsportsmanGent) October 7, 2013
Anyway, Muschamp was invited to participate in this weekend’s events and declined.
“I’m worried about that 2013 LSU team not the 2003 one, that’s for sure,” he said. “It will be good to see those guys, I guess, on the field a little bit. It was a special group.
“One of the players sent me a picture when I was at Texas of the team and wanted me to sign it and send it back to him. Just looking at the pictures, it was guys who understood their role in the organization. We had a bunch of guys go play on Sunday, but we had a bunch of successful people whether they are teachers or they are in the business world. They have all done an outstanding job, and it was a lot of fun.”
