Can Joe Burrow rewrite LSU’s passing records? It’s complicated
By Les East
Published:
Joe Burrow couldn’t have been much more productive than he was in LSU’s 55-3 victory over Georgia Southern in the season opener.
He completed 23-of-27 passes for 278 yards and 5 TDs last Saturday in Tiger Stadium, leaving the game after playing just one series in the second half.
The performance earned Burrow SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors as he tied a school record with 5 touchdowns, all of which came in the first half. (He shared the award with Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.)
It was the type of performance that the most optimistic observers envisioned for Burrow in first-year passing game coordinator Joe Brady’s system.
Those numbers extrapolate to Burrow finishing the regular season just 11 yards short of Rohan Davey’s single-season record of 3,347 passing yards set in 2001. (Burrow’s 60 touchdown pace is unrealistic, but JaMarcus Russell’s program record is a modest 28.)
But this was just one game. It was against Georgia Southern – not No. 9 Texas (this week’s opponent in Austin, Texas) and not an SEC opponent.
Then again, Burrow barely played half the game.
So is it realistic to think Burrow might be on his way to the most prolific passing season any LSU quarterback has had?
More than Davey? More than Pro Football Hall of Famer Y.A. Tittle? More than Bert Jones? More than offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger? More than Russell? More than championship quarterbacks Matt Mauck and Matt Flynn? More than Zach Mettenberger?
That’s a pretty impressive list of quarterbacks and Burrow has a chance to insert his name among theirs in the Tigers record book.
The game was the 3rd consecutive one in which Burrow has either broken or tied a school record.
He set the Tigers record for touchdowns accounted for with 6 against Texas A&M in the 7-overtime regular-season finale last November.
He tied the LSU bowl record with 4 touchdown passes in the Fiesta Bowl win over UCF on New Year’s Day.
Though the opener demonstrated that the pieces are in place for Burrow to possibly break the single-season passing record, there are a couple of things working against that.
First, the Tigers’ goal is to have roughly 50-50 balance between the run and the pass, which was not the case in the season opener.
Though LSU was close to 50-50 in attempts – 39 passes and 33 rushes – it wasn’t close in productivity. Burrow and backup Myles Brennan combined to pass for 350 yards while the Tigers finished with just 122 rushing yards.
If the No. 6 Tigers are going to have the type of success they envision, they will have to have better balance in their offensive productivity. Assuming LSU does have more success running the ball than it did last Saturday – and it appears to have the running back depth and offensive line quality to do that – then there might not be a need for Burrow to throw as many passes or for as many yards week in and week out as there was in the opener.
Additionally, if the Tigers are accumulating passing yards at a significantly higher rate than they have in years past, that could be a sign not only of the new system but also that they’re playing from behind more frequently than they expect to.
So more passing yards doesn’t necessarily equate into more efficient passing. And efficiency is the key to Brady’s scheme. In fact, the more significant stat for Burrow in the opener was his 85.2 completions percentage (5th-best in LSU history with 20-plus attempts.)
Burrow might be able to pass for more yards this season than any other LSU quarterback has in any other season.
But don’t be surprised if he comes up short – especially if the productivity of the running game, the efficiency of the passing game and the team’s success don’t require gaining yards through the air at a record pace.
Les East is a New Orleans-based football writer who covers LSU for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow him on Twitter @Les_East.
