There are 11 shopping days left before Christmas.
There are 18 days remaining to compile New Year’s resolutions before the calendar flips to 2024.
As for LSU sports, there’s nothing left to win as 2023 closes on what may be the most remarkable year in Tigers’ athletics history.
It was filled with past and present and LSU former athletes winning national and world championships and awards after a string of record-setting performances.
Let’s rewind and marvel at a spectacular year that will be hard to top.
JANUARY
- LSU football and its first-year head coach Brian Kelly caps a 10-win 2022 season with a Jan. 1 63-7 Citrus Bowl pounding of Purdue. It’s the most points ever scored by a team in the Citrus Bowl and the 56-point victory margin is the largest in SEC bowl history.
FEBRUARY
- At an indoor meet in France, former LSU pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis breaks his world record with a vault of 20 feet, 4.8 inches. It’s the sixth time he’s raised the world standard.
MARCH
- In LSU’s last home gymnastics meet of the season vs. West Virginia, Haleigh Bryant records three perfect scores in the bars, vault and floor exercise. She becomes the only LSU gymnast to record three 10s in a single meet and only the fifth gymnast in the NCAA to do so.
- Maggie MacNeil becomes the first LSU women’s swimmer to win an NCAA championship. She finished first in the 50 freestyle national finals with a time of 20.79 seconds, setting NCAA and LSU records.
APRIL
- LSU wins its first NCAA national women’s basketball championship with a 102-85 demolition of Iowa. It was the most points ever scored by a team in the championship game. Angel Reese became the first LSU women’s player to be named the Final Four’s Most Valuable Player while finishing the season with an NCAA record 34 double-doubles.
MAY
- LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne and Angel Reese become the first Tigers’ athletes ever to appear in the annualSports Illustratedswimsuit issue.
JUNE
- LSU wins baseball’s College World Series for a seventh time by destroying Florida 18-4, recording a CWS game-record 24 hits. Tigers’ second-year head coach Jay Johnson was named National Coach of the Year, centerfielder Dylan Crews became LSU’s second-ever Golden Spikes winner as college baseball’s best player and pitcher Paul Skenes was named the CWS MVP, National Player of the Year (D1 Baseball, Collegiate Baseball) and National Pitcher of the Year (ABCA).
- LSU women’s golfer Ingrid Lindblad ascends to No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf rankings.
JULY
- LSU’s Paul Skenes is the first player chosen in the MLB draft and Dylan Crews is the second, marking the first time teammates were drafted with the top two picks.
- Former LSU men’s tennis great Neal Skupski and his doubles partner Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands win the 2023 Wimbledon doubles title. Skupski, a native of Liverpool, England, claimed his first major title in men’s doubles in front of his home nation.
AUGUST
- Former LSU women’s track star Sha’carri Richardson, who missed the Tokyo Olympics because she tested positive for marijuana a month before the Games, wins her first world championship with a gold medal victory in the 100 meters in Budapest. She then won gold in the 400-meter relay and bronze in the 200.
- LSU All-America women’s golfer Ingrid Lindblad, returning for her fifth season with the Tigers, wins the 2023 Mark H. McCormack Medal as the leading female player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
- Tigers’ All-America women’s golfer Lattana Stone loses in the U.S. women’s final match. En route to the finals, Stone beat the Nos. 7, 10 and 25 players in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking.
SEPTEMBER
- Former LSU Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals signs a five-year, $275 million deal that will make him the highest-paid player in NFL history on an annual basis at $55 million per year.
- Former LSU pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis breaks his world record that he set in February with a vault of 20 feet, 5¼ inches in the Prefontaine Classic. It’s the seventh time he’s broken the world record.
- Former LSU and Calvary Baptist golfer Sam Burns opens play for the first time as a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team. He’s the third ex-Tiger to play in the Ryder Cup, joining David Toms (2002, 2004, 2006) and Fred Haas (1953). Burns finishes 2-4-0 in his various matches.
NOVEMBER
- Former LSU All-American baseball pitcher Aaron Nola of the Philadelphia Phillies signs a 7-year, $172 million contract. It’s the richest deal ever given to a Phillies pitcher.
- LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels breaks the SEC single record for most total offense yards with 606 yards vs. Florida. He passed for 372 yards and 2 TDs and ran for 234 yards and 2 TDs.
- Former LSU women’s track star Sha’carri Richardson is named USA Track and Field Women’s Athlete of the Year after winning three medals (two gold) in the world championships in August.
DECEMBER
- LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels becomes the third Tigers player to win the Heisman Trophy as college football’s best player. In doing so, LSU is the third school ever (joining USC, Oklahoma) to have two Heisman Trophy-winning QBs in a five-year period.
- Former LSU pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis is named the World Athletics’ 2023 World Athlete of the Year. He also won the award in 2020 and 2022.
- In just their third pro season, former LSU beach volleyball standouts Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth end the year ranked No. 2 in the world after winning the Beach Pro Tour Finals in Doha. It’s the seventh tourney they’ve won in 2023.
- LSU closes the year with six athletes ranked in the On3 NIL valuation top 100, including three in the top 10. It includes women’s gymnast Olivia Dunne at No. 3 ($3.3 million), women’s basketball players Angel Reese at No. 7 ($1.7 million), Flau’Jae Johnson ($1.1 million) at No. 21 and Hailey Van Lith at No. 98 ($566,000) and two football players — Heisman Trophy-winning QB Jayden Daniels at No. 9 ($1.6 million) and receiver Malik Nabers at No. 47 ($770,000).
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com