Not a Republican, no.
Your "lucky recipient" part is dead on. The PROBLEM, though, is that most people in Louisiana believe that lsu earned their lofty position, and if the other schools in the state would simply try harder, they, too, could have such success. lsu has been propped up, in both athletics and academics, to have ALL of the advantages over the other schools in the state. Other schools are not even permitted to APPEAR to be competing with the flagship.
What irks me about the legislature (which is, BTW, dominated by lsu alum, and if that is not racketeering I don't know what is), is that they continue to insist on this "flagship" BS long after other states have bailed on it. Take South Carolina and Alabama, for example. Similar population size, similar economic history in many ways, and they also use a "flagship" system. However, the other two, while keeping a school the "designated" flagship, have spread the wealth around to at least one other major university (and in each case it happens to be a school that has a more technological focus (Clemson and Auburn). Now, each of those states have TWO state universities in the top tier of the US News rankings, whereas Louisiana just got ONE school up there, and that just happened last year. (Also, Alabama, Auburn, South Carolina, and Clemson are all rated much higher than lsu.) Competition, when managed well, can be a very good thing.
So, I dislike lsu mainly because they overtly stand in the way of Tech's growth. But I also dislike them because of their alumni in the legislature who continue to keep them propped up and protected, and in the meantime the people of Louisiana get the short end of the stick. There is a reason why most states have gone away from putting all their eggs into one institution's basket.