Tiger Rag High 5: LSU’s best all-time individual season performance

Welcome to the 18th category of our Tiger Rag High Five, the best all-time individual season performance.

A 15-member media panel with a collective 582 years of sports journalism experience picked LSU’s five best athletes, coaches, moments, and individual game and season performances in 21 categories covering all present and past sports.

Voters on the panel were provided information of six to 10 nominees and were asked to rank one through five. The panel voters could also write-in their own candidates.

Scoring was tallied as 5 points for a first-place vote, 4 for second-place, 3 for third-place, 2 for second place and 1 for last-place. Ties were not broken.

The winner of the best-ever LSU individual season performance is. . .

Joe Burrow, 2019 football 70 (10 first-place votes)

2. Pete Maravich, 1969-70 basketball 65 (5)

Broke his own NCAA single-season scoring record by averaging 44.5 points in 31 games

3. Ben McDonald, 1989 baseball 23

Set SEC records with 202 strikeouts in 152.1 innings, including 44.2 consecutive scoreless innings

4. Aaron Nola, 2013 baseball 20

Went 12-1, 1.57 ERA, led SEC in strikeouts (122), was SEC Pitcher of the Year

5. Jenny Lidback 1985-86 women’s golf 11

In her only LSU season, she was NCAA Player of the Year winning seven individual titles

Here’s Burrow’s story:

Mix a fifth-year graduate transfer quarterback who spends every waking minute in the film room, rejuvenated receivers who believe they can catch everything, a young passing game coordinator with an unstoppable concept, and a wily offensive coordinator and a head coach who both green-light the offense to detonate scoreboards.

“The perfect storm,” LSU 2019 Heisman Trophy winning quarterback and chief rainmaker Joe Burrow said.

Empowered by new passing game coordinator Joe Brady, entrusted by veteran offensive coordinator and appreciated by head coach Ed Orgeron, Burrow became the only player in SEC history to throw for 5,000 yards (5,671) and 60 TDs (an NCAA record) in a season.

He established two NCAA and nine SEC records and almost all LSU single season passing marks including throwing for 300 or more yards in 13 of 15 games in the Tigers’ 15-0 national title run.