“Hell, I’ll let Donald Trump select it (Head Coach) before I let him do it.” That was Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry’ s fiery declaration aimed at former athletic director Scott Woodward , delivered just days after both he and head coach Brian Kelly were dismissed. The remark lit up Death Valley with a familiar debate. How much should politics intertwine with football in a state where the sport often feels like religion?

Building on the ongoing debate, ESPN host Tom Hart voiced his concern. He first summed up how much the fanbase connects its identity with the team’s success and failure. “LSU matters. It matters to the people that show up in that stadium. It matters to the people who maybe haven’t ever stepped foot in that state, because it mattered to the entire state…There is a

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