Tigers’ arcade offense
AUSTIN, Texas – They seem to know how discombobulating all of this is. They appear to understand that the sight of LSU spreading the field, of shotgun snaps into empty backfields, of a dynamic quarterback flinging the football with abandon to fast, talented receivers – much of it at a supersonic tempo – is very difficult to fathom.
Someone asked Joe Burrow about the Tigers’ radical transformation late Saturday night, after a 45-38 victory over Texas. The quarterback had thrown for 471 yards, with four touchdowns, to propel the Tigers to victory in the highly anticipated non-conference matchup of Top 10 teams — and yes, it’s still very early, but also to launch them into conversation about the College Football Playoff.
“LSU – you’re not used to that one, huh?” Burrow said, smiling.
Really, how could anyone be? The very idea of LSU with an attack this devastating seemed like a fever dream. For years, as college football morphed into a video game tilted heavily toward fantastic offenses, LSU remained committed to a very conventional slog. Or maybe just stuck in it.
It eventually cost Les Miles the job. And although Ed Orgeron got the gig in part by promising to open things up, it had not really happened in his first two seasons.
Orgeron soured quickly on Matt Canada, the offensive coordinator he’d hired to do it. Back in 2017, Orgeron first cut out much of Canada’s scheme, and then at the end of the season he cut Canada loose.
Burrow arrived before last season as a graduate transfer from Ohio State and showed potential in flashes. But mostly the Tigers’ offense lurched along like so many others before it. To put Burrow’s performance against the Longhorns into perspective, last October, LSU passed for 521 yards. That’s the entire month (three games).
“The traditional LSU offense, you’d never think they’d run spread and uptempo,” Tigers safety JaCoby Stevens said. “A bunch of people said we caught up with the 21st century.”
And in catching up, they’ve caught fire: 55 points against Georgia Southern, 45 against then-No. 9 Texas to win a Big 12-style shootout. After piling up 573 yards against the Longhorns, Orgeron asked, “How about our offense, man?”
We are only two weeks deep into the season. But after outscoring the No. 9ranked team on the road in a superheated caldron, it’s time to consider what might be possible, and whether LSU might finally be ready to match up with Alabama in the SEC West.
Is this that monster we always suspected might exist, if only the Tigers’ coaches would set it free?
“It’s the vision that I always had when we took over,” Orgeron said, “and we finally got there. It took a couple of miscues to get there, but we’re finally there and we have the coaches to do it, we have the receivers to do it, we have the quarterback to do it and we’re gonna get better.”
They have the quarterback to do it, for sure. Burrow’s transformation from last season, when he was a clear upgrade from past quarterbacks but functioned mostly as an upgraded game manager, is impressive.
But it took Orgeron’s commitment to change, too. During the offseason, he hired Joe Brady from the New Orleans Saints, gave him the title of passing game coordinator and charged him, along with offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger, with revamping the offense. LSU has gone from archaic to an arcade game.
As Texas kept punching away in the second half, as a full-blown shootout developed, the Tigers didn’t just keep up, they set the pace.
“They were playing so well, we knew we had to score again,” Burrow said. “I kept telling our guys, we’ve got to get to 40 and we’ll win. Forty and we’ll win.”
If you still doubted either Burrow’s ability or the Tigers’ resolve, there was this: After Texas cut the lead to 37-31 with just under six minutes left, Orgeron asked Ensminger, “What do you think about a four-minute offense?” Translation: It’d be nice, maybe, to run the football and the clock. You know, like all of those other LSU teams would have done.
But if Orgeron was tempted to revert, Ensminger wanted no part of it.
“No. No,” Ensminger said. “We’re gonna pass the ball, go down there and score.”
Orgeron: “Go ahead.”
And they did. Pass. And score. On 3rd-and-17, Burrow stepped up to avoid a rush and hit Justin Jefferson on a crossing pattern; 61 yards later Jefferson was into the end zone with the clinching touchdown.
“The kid is a baller,” Orgeron said of Burrow.
Jefferson (nine catches, 163 yards, three TDs) is, too. So are Ja’Marr Chase (eight catches for 147 yards) and Terrace Marshall (six catches, 123 yards and a score). Burrow became LSU’s first 400yard passer since 2001; never in school history had three receivers each had at least 100 receiving yards.
Back to Burrow’s initial question: Never mind all of us; it’s going to take some getting used to for the Tigers themselves.
“I never thought we was gonna spread the ball the way we have been,” Jefferson said, adding, “This new offense is gonna be crazy for us.”
And just maybe, even crazier for everyone else.