Got The Nat: LSU, Burrow finish perfect

While Bourbon Street reeked of the all familiar smell of cheap booze, instead of jazz music piping from street performers, bar-goers belted Queen’s “We Are The Champions” in the street. Meanwhile, a dozen blocks over in the depths of the Superdome, the smell of tobacco leaves masked the smell of sweat as the LSU Tigers took drags off of championship stogies following LSU’s 42-25 victory over the Clemson Tigers to capture the 2020 College Football Playoff Championship.

More importantly, instead of forgetting the night — like most New Orleans’ visitors do, it will be a night that LSU players, coaches and fans will never forget. On second thought, the 2019-20 LSU season as a whole will be something no one in America will be forgetting anytime soon.

The Skinny

To be frank, the amount of hardware the LSU Tigers brought to Baton Rouge this season is staggering.

With Joe Burrow heeding the weight of the 45-pound Heisman Trophy, any typical football program would be more than happy if the list stopped there. But this season, LSU was everything but a typical football program.

Also occupying the trophy case in Baton Rouge is Ja’Marr Chase’s Biletnikoff Award.  And we can’t forget Grant Delpit’s Jim Thorpe Award. LSU’s offensive line also pulled their weight in winning the Joe Moore Award. Ed Orgeron will also have a trophy or two to show off having won the Home Depot Coach of the Year Award as well as the AP Poll giving him the same recognition.

But the most important enshrinement doesn’t recognize one man or position — but rather an entire roster. And on Monday night, the everyone on the Tigers’ roster earned a place in the trophy case. Stretching 3-feet tall, the College Football Playoff Trophy will rise above the others in the case — just as the LSU Tigers rose above everyone else in the country all season long.

15-0

Invaincu — that’s French for undefeated.

In the 2019-20 season, the LSU Tigers became the first team in SEC history to go 15-0. And heading into the season, the likelihood of going undefeated looked grim.

Ahead of the Tigers was a schedule that looked as treacherous as a Louisiana bayou at night. According to fbsschedules.com, the LSU Tigers’ 2019-20 season was ranked second in terms of strength of schedule. Some notable opponents:

•  @ No. 9 Texas
•  vs. No. 7 Florida
•  vs. No. 9 Auburn
•  @ No. 3 Alabama
• ——————————————-
•  vs. No. 4 Georgia (SEC Championship)
•  vs. No. 4 Oklahoma (CFP)
•  vs. No. 3 Clemson (CFP)

LSU opponents won…

The ACC
The Big 12
The SEC East
The Orange Bowl
The Fiesta Bowl
The Sugar Bowl
The Citrus Bowl
The Alamo Bowl
The Texas Bowl

7 were ranked in the top 10 when they played.

— Cole Cubelic (@colecubelic) January 14, 2020

To summarize, LSU beat seven Top-10 teams and each of the preseason Top-4 teams in 2019-20.

Record-breaking Burrow

Quarterbacks in the state of Louisiana love smashing records — one touchdown pass at a time. Earlier this year, the New Orleans Saints’ Drew Brees surpassed Peyton Manning for the most career passing touchdowns in the NFL.

On Monday night, Joe Burrow captured a couple of records of his own. With a five passing-touchdown effort against Clemson, Burrow tallied his 60th passing touchdown of the season — the most a college quarterback has ever accounted for.

https://twitter.com/LSUfootball/status/1216962057897226240?s=20

Burrow’s six total touchdowns on Monday also helped him etch his name in the College Football Playoff record book with the most touchdowns accountable for in a playoff game.

With the storied career that Burrow has had, it’s no wonder that his high school back in Athens, Ohio will be renaming the football stadium after him. However, it seems that Athens won’t be the only place claiming the 2019 Heisman winner as the City of Baton Rouge will be calling Burrow their adopted son for years to come. And for Burrow, he wouldn’t have it any other way:

Now what?

Well, there is no more football to be played — at least not for a couple of months. So, as they say in New Orleans, “Laissez les bon temps rouler.”

Let the good times roll.