Fans arriving at Tulane Stadium on November 26, 1949, for the annual season-ending clash between Tulane and LSU saw with their own eyes what the Times-Picayune had described in an article: "L-S-U" burned into the field between the 30-yard lines. Those entering the south stands also saw what the TP had shown in a front page picture: LSU 21, TU 0 painted on a runway.

As was typical in those days, "visitors" from each school left a mark on the rival's campus. Two weeks before the big game, Tulane partisans dropped in on the LSU campus and left green calling cards on speed limit signs on streets near the university. These bore the score of the 1948 game, "Tulane 46 LSU 0."

The Saturday before the 1949 game, vandals from LSU etched "LSU 21 Tulane 0" in rock salt letters 20' wide in the center of the Tulane Stadium playing field. They also daubed similar sentiments in green paint on the administration building, the football players' dormitory, the stadium runway, the campus sidewalks, and a dormitory at Newcomb women's college. This would prove to be one of the greatest prognostications in football history.

This renewal of the annual rivalry that began in 1893 was especially significant to the LSU team and fans. The previous year the Green Wave had romped 46-0 in Baton Rouge in the most lopsided outcome in the series to that point. Underscoring the importance head coach Gaynell Tinsley placed on this game, the previous week he had pulled his starters during the third quarter of a 48-7 rout of Southeastern Louisiana and sent the first and second string to the practice field outside Tiger Stadium to start implementing the Tulane game plan

Tulane had its strongest team since the 1931 Rose Bowl team. Henry Frnka's squad had been ranked #1 in the preseason by The Sporting News and was in everybody's top 10. How­ever, a 46-7 disaster at South Bend eliminated the Greenies from national championship con­sideration. Nevertheless, TU had already clinched the SEC championship with a 5-0 record and, at 7-1-1 overall (including a 21-21 tie with Navy), had returned to the Associated Press Top Ten. The Sugar Bowl, although not obligated at that time to select the SEC champion, was poised to invite the hometown Greenies after they disposed of the Tigers.

LSU had rebounded nicely from the 3-7 debacle of 1948, its worst season since 1922. After starting 2-2, the '49 Tigers won five in a row. They had already beaten two conference champions, Rice of the Southwest Conference (14-7) and North Carolina of the Southern (13-7). LSU had completely turned the tables on four opponents from 1948:
North Carolina 7-34 (1948) to 13-7 (1949), Ole Miss 19-49 to 34-7, Vanderbilt 7-48 to 33-13, Mississippi State 0-7 to 34-7. Could the Tigers get the same revenge against their arch­rival?

Tinsley had assistant Ed McKeever, a disciple of Notre Dame's Frank Leahy, give moti­vational talks to the team. "He started out softly, then built up. At the end, he was screaming," remembered G Charles Cusimano, later a long-time member of LSU's Board of Supervisors. McKeever saved his best for the minutes right before kickoff. S Kenny Konz recalled, "The most amazing thing of that day was that nobody was hurt as we all hit the door trying to get out on that field."

The week of the Tulane game, LSU coach Gaynell Tinsley pinned his hopes on jack-of-all-trades S Kenny Konz. The 5'10 185 lb junior had played safety, cornerback, quarterback, full­back, and end. He kicked off, kicked extra points, punted, and returned punts. Konz had play­ed only six-man football at small Weimar (TX) High School. Nevertheless, his speed (9.9 for the 100y dash) had caught the eye of many college recruiters, including a Tiger fan named Rubin Moss, who enthusiastically recommended Kenny to the LSU coaching staff led by Ber­nie Moore. Konz had decided he wanted to attend an out-of-state school. "I wanted to go someplace where I was really away from home—but not so far that I couldn't get back quickly if my family needed me. LSU fit the bill." Moore thought long and hard before giving a scholarship to someone who had never played the same game he coached. He finally decided to take a chance.

Tulane received the opening kickoff on a clear cool afternoon before 79,292, the largest crowd ever to see a regular season game in the Southeast or Southwest at that time. 200 police and security guards had been employed to keep the peace.

The Greenies started out like a Top Ten team. All-American FB Eddie Price gained 20, then 15 to put the ball in LSU territory. However, Tulane jumped offside, then lost five more yards in three plays and had to punt. Konz caught the ball on the run at the LSU eight at the south end of the field (where the 21-0 prediction had been painted). He turned upfield and raced untouched to the end zone. "I didn't see a single Tulane man on his feet. ... Everyone near me was knocked down. Fact is, some of our guys blocked two men." Breaking into the clear at midfield, Konz had only one man to beat—Price. He did so easily.

The sudden turn of events seemed to rattle the Green Wave. There was no more scoring the first half as neither offense could move the ball.

The LSU coaching staff had devised a plan to stop Price's patented draw play. They placed the nose guard over the center and a middle linebacker behind the nose guard. The defensive ends spread a little wider to take away the sweep, thus daring Tulane to pass. That provided Konz with opportunities to bat down or intercept the aerials. The Tigers would end the game with nine interceptions.

Finally, in the third quarter, the home team reached the LSU 12. Then the Tiger defense pushed the Wave back and took over on the 35. On the first play, sophomore HB Lee Hedges bolted 65y for a touchdown to make it 14-0. "All I had to do was run like hell," Hedges said afterward.

In the last quarter, the Tiger offense generated its first sustained drive of the game. Starting on its own 45, LSU took ten plays to reach the end zone. With the ball on the 1' line, slick QB Charlie Pevey faked to FB Zollie Toth up the middle and handed the ball to HB Billy Baggett, who circled end untouched into the end zone. The PAT made the final score 21-0, exactly as the vandals' signs predicted! From 0-46 to 21-0 in one year—a 67-point turnaround!

Tinsley recalled: "A coach can never really tell when a ball club is ready, but the best medicine so far as I was concerned was that bus ride to New Orleans. It gets a team to thinking. Two hours is just long enough. The ride in 1949 was silent, and I could feel that the boys, win or lose, would give a good account of themselves. I think they realized if they didn't, Tulane was good enough to run them out of the stadium. So we had a little fear going for us too. The one fear of a team being keyed up is a bad break. The higher you are, the more you are deflated if something doesn't go right for you early in the game. On the other hand, a good break will send you through the roof. No team I've ever seen played as close to 100 percent of its capabilities as this 1949 bunch did against Tulane. On every tackle, it seemed like we had four men or more around the ball. Konz played the greatest game at safety I ever witnessed."

The Southeastern Conference had a rule requiring a team to have a .750 winning percentage in conference games to participate in a bowl game. At 4-2 because of early losses to Kentucky and Georgia, LSU was only .667. However, the conference quickly amended the rule to allow the Tigers to accept the Sugar Bowl invitation that had been reserved for the Green Wave.

This proved to be a mixed blessing as Bud Wilkinson's Oklahoma powerhouse clobbered the Cinderella Tigers 35-0.