NEW ORLEANS—On a night when the college football world was watching, LSU’s senior Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Joe Burrow carved out his place in SEC folklore.
Burrow had the best statistical season of any quarterback in conference’s rich history after passing for 463 yards and five touchdowns as the top-ranked undefeated LSU Tigers rallied from a slow start and a 17-7 deficit to blow by defending national champion Clemson, 42-25, in the college football playoff championship game here last night before a sellout crowd of 76,185 at the Mercedes Benz Superdome that included President Donald Trump.
It took a while for Burrow to figure out Clemson’s different looks on defense, but once the 6-5 senior, who transferred to LSU from Ohio State with two years of eligibility remaining, did, it was lights out as the SEC Tigers put electrifying finishing touches on a perfect 15-0 season in front of a mostly home crowd in a game played just 80 miles south of their Baton Rouge campus.
“He means the world to me,’’ LSU coach Ed Orgeron said. “He’s one of the greatest players in LSU history. He’s done so much for the state and LSU. We are so grateful for Joe Burrow.’’
Burrow completed 31 of 49 passes and rushed for an additional 58 yards and one touchdown as the Tigers took control of the game with 21 straight points as the Tigers went on quick strike scoring drives of 75, 87 and 95 yards in the final 9:17 of the half to help take the heart out of the defending national champions.
There was a time midway through the second quarter where there was a question whether Burrow would have his magical night. Burrow threw a six-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Thaddeus Moss with 10 seconds left in the half when he took a big hit to the rib/arm area from Clemson linebacker Joe Skalski as he released the ball.
He winced in pain. Burrow returned to the field well before the halftime break ended and rode a stationary bike for three minutes on the sideline, then went through some throws on the field, grimacing as he looked at his hand.,
“I wasn’t going to sit on the sideline,’’ he told ESPN. “This is the national championship game.’’
Burrow left little doubt who should be the MVP in this game and the first pick overall in the 2020 NFL draft when he broke the FBS single season record for touchdown passes with 60, breaking the old mark of 58 set by Colt Brennan of Hawaii in 2006. Clemson’s sophomore prodigy Trevor Lawrence, who won his first 25 games as a starter and should be the No. 1 pick overall in the 2021 draft, completed 18 of 37 passes for 234 yards and no touchdowns.
“I waited for a long time for this,’’ Burrow said. “This is the best of the best. This is something I wanted to do from the time I was five-years old, to hold this trophy. This means so much. I’m almost speechless.’’
The victory was sweet for Orgeron, the 58-year old Cajun who has found a spiritual home in the Bayou, close to where he grew up in Laroche, La. Orgeron, who was promoted from interim coach in 2016, has quieted the skeptics who thought he was over his head after an earlier flop as head coach at Ole Miss, transformed this program into a perennial national contender in four years and should cause mighty Alabama fits every season in the SEC West after he became innovative enough to hire 30 year old Joe Brady, a Broyles award winner who installed a prolific down field passing game similar to the one used by the NFL New Orleans Saints that allowed Burrow to maximize his talents and LSU’s superb array of wide outs the freedom to play in space.
Still, there were times in the first quarter when it looked like Lawrence– the hero of last year’s 44-16 national championship victory over Alabama– might pick LSU’s defense apart early. “We had our chances,’’ Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “But we just didn’t make them pay.’’
Clemson did add some suspense to the game when the ACC Tigers scored on a three-yard run by Travis Etienne and then added a two-point conversion on a pass from Lawrence to Amari Rodgers to cut LSU’s lead to 28-25 with 10:49 left in the third quarter. But Burrow took away any hope when he came right back to throw a four-yard touchdown pass to Moss with 5:26 left in the third quarter and then put an exclamation mark on the decisive victory with a 24-yard touchdown pass Terrace Marshall early in the fourth.
LSU was the best team in the country. The SEC Tigers defeated seven Top 10 teams this season, Texas, Florida, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma and Clemson. And they got better as the season progressed, scoring more than 40 points in five of their last six games. Burrow had the distinction of throwing seven touchdown passes in the first half of a 62-28 victory over Oklahoma in the national semi-finals at the Peach Bowl.
Against Clemson, LSU’s first team All American wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase had nine receptions for 221 yards and two touchdowns. Versatile running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire added 110 yards rushing in 16 attempts as the Tigers rolled up 628 yards total offense to Clemson’s 394.
The chants of LSU, LSU resonated deep into the night as the clock wound down. Burrows hugged his teammates and Orgeron hugged his wife Kelly at midfield. He had tears in his eyes. “We love the state of Louisiana,’’ he said. “This is for everybody in the great state of Louisiana. I feel lucky to have been at the right place at the right time. I grew up wanting to be the head coach at LSU. We had support from the governor, the President, from everybody who loves LSU.
“You’ve got to give credit to the football team. They’ve been working for one year. They deserve this day.’’
Moments like this usually only happen in a dream. But the celebrations in the French Quarter are proof it really happened.
