LSU Claims National Title
Tigers perfect season ends with a perfect trophy
On Monday night, Louisiana State University (LSU) won the college football championship 42-25 versus Clemson, a team that had not lost its last 29 games and has won two out of the previous three national titles.
LSU was led all season by Joe Burrow, the Heisman Trophy winner, who threw for the most touchdowns in a single-season in the history of college football with 60 touchdowns.
His team went 15-0, including 7-0 against the Associated Poll (AP) top ten teams. The team's perfect season puts the 2019-2020 LSU Tigers into the conversation as the greatest team in the history of college football.
In the final game of Burrow’s career, the projected National Football League (NFL) number one overall pick was responsible for all six of his team’s touchdowns—throwing for five and rushing for another.
Burrow’s six total touchdowns was the most ever for a player in a title game.
One of Burrow’s most reliable receivers and fellow first-round pick projection, Justin Jefferson, was at a loss of words when describing his quarterback.
“That guy played a perfect season,” he said.
Even though Burrow was not perfect, he ended his season with a 76.3 completion percentage, the second-best mark all-time.
Joe Burrow and fourth year LSU Head Coach, Ed Orgeron, had a special connection all year. Just a few seasons ago, both were deemed underdogs. Orgeron began his head coaching career going 10-25 at Ole Miss from 2005-2007.
His next opportunity to lead a team did not come again until 2013 when he was named USC’s interim coach.
Orgeron’s 6-2 record at USC was not enough to win him the full-time position.
Two years later, LSU hired the Lousiana-native as their defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator. Not long after his hiring, Orgeron was given another interim coaching opportunity for the Tigers in 2016 and eventually won the full-time job.
Meanwhile, Joe Burrow was denied by his dad’s alma mater (Nebraska), before he wound up at his home-state school at Ohio State University (OSU).
At OSU, Burrow was benched in favor of future first-round pick and current Washington Redskins quarterback, Dwayne Haskins. Burrow then transferred to LSU and finally won the starting quarterback job as a redshirt junior in 2018.
Orgeron and Burrow instantly fed off of each other’s energy and similar background of being unwanted. Contrary to Orgeron’s time at Ole Miss, the now 58-year-old coach thrived in his home state of Louisiana.
The players, fans and LSU community idolized Orgeron.
“It’s kind of funny, there were things that I was doing at Ole Miss I was ridiculed for,” Orgeron said. “And now I punch myself in the jaw and everybody at LSU likes it.”
While LSU found its head coach in 2016, Orgeron still needed to find his quarterback. When Burrow was looking to transfer out of Ohio State after losing the starting job to Haskins, his two possible destinations were Cincinnati and LSU.
On Burrow’s official visit to LSU’s campus, Orgeron brought the quarterback to Mike Anderson’s: a famous seafood restaurant in Baton Rouge.
Even though crawfish were not on the menu, Orgeron made a special request to have fifteen pounds of the fish brought to his table, where he convinced Burrow to join his team. The rest is history.
During the 2019-2020 season, Orgeron and Burrow put all the pieces together. The Tigers knew they had a special team in their hands, but their path to a title would not be easy.
They had the second-hardest strength of schedule behind Ohio State. Their hardest game came on Nov. 9 when Burrow would lead LSU to a victory against Alabama — an annual rivalry game the Tigers had not won since 2011.
Nonetheless, Burrow and Co. marched out of Tuscaloosa with a 46-41 win and the proverbial monkey off their back.
The Tigers finished their undefeated season with an exceptional list of teams they had beaten.
The list included the Big 12 champion (Oklahoma), Orange Bowl winner (Florida), Sugar Bowl winner (Georgia), Alamo Bowl winner (Texas), Texas Bowl winner (Texas A&M), Citrus Bowl winner (Alabama) and ultimately the ACC champion (Clemson).
In those games, Burrow threw for a spectacular 24 touchdowns and zero interceptions.
The rest of the Tigers’ season was perfect — including their playoff wins by a combined point differential of +52 against two of the nation’s top teams.
Burrow recognized that his championship squad was “a special group of guys that really came together.” He exclaimed, “to [win] it in New Orleans is even more special. This is going to be remembered for a long time.”
The LSU graduate is on his way to becoming the No.1 pick in the NFL, but his immaculate season will forever be in the college football record books.
Contact Nic Carpino at ncarpino@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.