Only Aggies remain as LSU seeks 12-0
Heisman hopeful aims to avenge seven-OT loss
COLLEGE STATION — At the time, LSU quarterback Joe Burrow said he had Georgia Southern on his mind. During July’s SEC Media Days, however, reporters
reminded him time and again of another game — one in his recent past — and Burrow admitted the Tigers’ seven-overtime loss at Texas A&M wasn’t easy to shake.
“Any time you play a seven-overtime game and
come out on the losing end, it’s not very fun,” Burrow said. “When you give your all like that, when you run the ball (29) times, it’s tough to come out with a loss. That really stuck with me a long time. It stuck with me through the bowl game.”
Courtesy of multiple questions, it stuck with Burrow through an otherwise upbeat media days, when everyone’s a winner leading into a season. And, frankly, it stuck with Burrow and Tigers well past their opener against Georgia Southern, and even in snatching a 4541 victory at rival Alabama on Nov. 9.
Finally, it’s here — A&M
(7-4, 4-3 SEC) at No. 2 LSU (11-0, 7-0) on Saturday night in Tiger Stadium. Burrow, the Heisman Trophy frontrunner, played it cool this week, not allowing his emotions to overtake his task.
“It’s just another game for us,” Burrow said. “We feel like if we play the way we’re capable of playing, we’ll win the game.”
Burrow, who transferred to LSU from Ohio State in May 2018, also showed he’s done plenty of homework on the Aggies — and not simply studying their defensive schemes.
“They have four losses this year, and three of those teams are in the top five currently,” Burrow said of No. 3 Clemson, No. 4 Georgia
and No. 5 Alabama. “And Auburn was in the top 10 for a lot of the year, so their losses are really good losses. We’ll have our work cut out for us.”
The Aggies in turn know they have plenty of work to do just to hang in the game with the Tigers, who have won their first 11 games for the first time since 2011 and own an offense leading the SEC in scoring (48.5 points per game), total offense (561.1 yards per game) and passing offense (386.8 ypg).
“Joe Burrow is a heck of a player,” A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said. “He’s playing as good as any quarterback in a long time. I mean, a 78 percent completion (rate)? Amazing.”
Burrow is completing 78.9 percent of his passes, on pace to break the NCAA record for a season of 76.7 percent set by Texas’s
Colt McCoy in 2008. Burrow also is the first SEC player to throw for 4,000 yards and 40 touchdowns in a season.
“He was a really good player last year, but he’s taken so many strides this season,” A&M defensive back Keldrick Carper said of Burrow. “Especially with their new offensive coordinator (Joe Brady) who’s let him loose … and allows him to use his playmakers on the outside.”
The Aggies faced four freshman quarterbacks this season in SEC play in defeating Mississippi, Mississippi State and South Carolina and losing to Auburn. A&M didn’t fare as well against teams with veteran quarterbacks, dropping contests to Trevor Lawrence and Clemson, Tua Tagovailoa and Alabama and Jake Fromm and Georgia.
Of course the strength of the rest of those teams had plenty to do with those losses, considering Lawrence and Fromm had so-so and subpar games against the Aggies, respectively.
A&M has loads more to concern itself with than only Burrow on the LSU offense, as well. LSU is the first team in SEC annals to feature a 4,000-yard passer, a 1,000-yard rusher (Clyde Edwards-Helaire) and two 1,000-yard receivers ( Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson).
“They’re doing a great job schematically, and they’ve got good players,” Fisher said.
Meantime the A&M defense leads the SEC and is sixth nationally in pass efficiency defense, so Burrow also will have his own challenge in putting points on the board against the Aggies. In a
wheelbarrow full of eye-popping stats, none are more so than Burrow’s completion percentage, but LSU coach Ed Orgeron said that’s partially by design.
“It’s because of the short passes, the short passing games,” Orgeron said of eight quarterbacks nationally currently completing more than 70 percent of their passes. “People are in the spread offense – they’re in the shotgun, and there are a lot of quick throws. (Defenses) have got to tell you what they’re in, man or zone, and you can figure it out real quick.”
As for A&M at LSU? It can’t get here quick enough for Burrow.
“(I’m) excited for Saturday,” he said with a smile.