BATON ROUGE, La. – Veteran LSU fans know that when a sentence starts, “For the first time since Gerry DiNardo was LSU’s coach,” the conclusion probably won’t be pleasant. LSU went 7-15 in the final two seasons of DiNardo’s previously successful tenure, and his exit paved the way for glory years that would follow under Nick Saban and Les Miles.
Things haven’t been so glorious at LSU lately when it comes to special-teams play, however. Saturday’s 35-28 win over Florida provided further evidence of that reality, as Gators return man Antonio Callaway’s 72-yard punt return for a touchdown made this the first season since 1999, DiNardo’s last on the LSU sideline, that the Tigers have surrendered both a kickoff return and a punt return for a touchdown in the same year.