Rece Davis puts Louisiana governor Jeff Landry on blast for bringing live tiger to LSU vs. Alabama

The ESPN College GameDay podcast has a segment entitled “dumb loses more than smart wins,” which is typically reserved for mistakes made by a college football team. However, for this week, host Rece Davis chose Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry for the honor (which isn’t really an honor).

Landry pushed for a live tiger to be on the sideline when LSU hosted Alabama this past weekend. After being told that Mike the Tiger, who is the official mascot for LSU, was unavailable, Landry helped bring in another tiger to be on the sideline.

The move clearly didn’t work as the Tigers were blasted by Alabama at Tiger Stadium.

Rece Davis criticized Jeff Landry for having a “feaux tiger” on the sideline for the game.

“Occasionally you bring in some bad karma, you bring in some things that serve as distractions to somebody or just unnecessarily add to the circus,” Rece Davis said of Jeff Landry. “This is where we get to dumb loses more than smart wins in Baton Rouge this weekend.

“Louisiana has a long history of politicians moving any which way they can – by hook or by crook – and getting exactly what they want. And what they wanted was a tiger on the field. So somehow, despite the fact that Brian Kelly wanted no part of this… there still wound up with a tiger on the field prior to the Alabama game.”

For years, Mike the Tiger was on the sideline when LSU played at Tiger Stadium. Davis feels that making another tiger come out on the sideline when Mike the Tiger wasn’t an option was a mistake.

“You take a tradition that is beloved in LSU annals, of bringing Mike out there to growl. … They bring feaux Mike out there, and they get their doors blown off,” Davis said. “I mean maybe they should’ve let feaux Mike loose and see if he could catch Jalen Milroe, because no one else could. And you know what? That just shows, stay out of it politicians, because dumb loses more than smart wins.

“You have a dumb idea. If you’re going to bring a tiger on the field, it’s gotta be Mike. It can’t be feaux Mike. We accept no substitutes for some of the nostalgia and the traditions of college football.”