[CW]

Originally Posted by theantiquetiger

The 1958 National Championship LSU team was unranked at the beginning of the season. The NCAA made a rule that year, or the year before, that a player could only re-enter the game once after being substituted. The coach divided the team into three small sub teams, the White team, the Gold team, and the Chinese Bandits. Instead of substituting a couple players, he would substitute the entire team, and save his starters to go back in near the end of the third quarter.

Each team had it's strengths, and the Chinese Bandits were strong on defense. They would actually punt on third down sometimes if they were deep in their own territory.

This formula won LSU the national championship. When other teams were worn out toward the end of the third quarter, LSU was sending in their starters, freshly rested for two quarters.

They played iron man ball back them, both ways, offense and defense.

Thanks for sharing that, and I'm glad I asked. The Chinese Bandit story definitely adds to the "coolness factor" of that piece.