LSU-OSU has share of drama

• By SHELDON MICKLES
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Jan 3, 2008

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Considering they’ve met only twice on the football field, LSU and Ohio State are rather short on history.

But the two national powers are long on highlights, dramatics and memories from a rare Southeastern Conference-Big Ten home-and-home series played in 1987 and ’88.

The two hard-fought games between the Tigers and Buckeyes were capped by fantastic fourth-quarter finishes, the first in Tiger Stadium on Sept. 26, 1987, and the rematch 364 days later in Ohio Stadium.

When the current LSU and Ohio State teams clash in the BCS National Championship Game on Monday night, the ’87 and ’88 games may rekindle some memories for former players and fans of the schools.

LSU and Ohio State battled to a 13-13 tie in front of a national TV audience in 1987, a game remembered more for what happened before the game rather than a wild final two minutes.

But that’s OK with LSU quarterback Tommy Hodson, a four-time All-SEC pick during his stellar career with the Tigers.

Hodson tossed two interceptions in the closing minutes, one that denied No. 4 LSU a chance at a chip-shot field goal; the other gave Ohio State a shot at a game-winning three-pointer before the Tigers’ Karl Dunbar blocked the kick to preserve the tie.

“I’m not real fond of talking about games we didn’t win,” Hodson said recently. “I hate to bring up bad memories. That was a big game. I wish 20 years later you could write a better story about our team because the way it went down was hard.”

But not all the memories are bad. In fact, one of the first things Hodson talked about was a shoving match just before the coin toss between Ohio State All-American Chris Spielman and LSU’s Eric Andolsek.

“Eric was a big, old teddy bear off the field, but he was intense and all business on the field,” Hodson said of his good friend. “Chris Spielman was a little bit of a different personality, more laid-back.

“Eric got in his face and they got in a little shoving match. But that’s how emotional Eric was when he played. You didn’t want to get in his way at the start of a game. But the crowd loved it, and it made for a better story.”

Spielman, to a certain extent, remembers what precipitated the incident.

“Tensions were high because you had two great programs and two proud conferences,” Spielman said.