My favorite moment from LSU's season doesn't involve Joe Burrow
No. 1-ranked LSU has had a whole bunch of memorable moments this season, with maybe more to come Jan. 13.
Most of them involved Joe Burrow.
There was the last touchdown against Texas when on 3rd-and-17 and protecting a precarious 6-point lead in the final 3 minutes, Burrow stepped up, away from pressure, and off-balance threw a 61-yard touchdown pass to Justin Jefferson. It sealed the Tigers’ 2nd victory and sent a message that this LSU quarterback was different, this LSU team was different.
But that wasn’t my favorite moment.
There was the play in the SEC Championship against Georgia that went viral – the one on which Burrow looked a little like Fran Tarkenton and a lot like Johnny Manziel when he reversed course twice, rolled toward the right sideline and just before going out of bounds launched a strike to Jefferson for a 71-yard gain.
The play crushed the spirit of a Georgia team that was teetering while facing a 20-3 deficit in the SEC title game.
But that wasn’t my favorite moment.
Then there was the virtual recreation of the play against Georgia in the CFP semifinal thrashing of Oklahoma. Burrow was running to his right, again, trying to ad-lib something good, again, and approached the right sideline, again, on the same end of the field in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Just before stepping out of bounds and getting hammered by a Sooner pass rusher Burrow lofted a 24-yard completion to Terrace Marshall Jr. during a 7-touchdown, 1st-half blitz.
But that wasn’t my favorite moment.
It was cool watching Burrow become LSU’s second Heisman Trophy winner and listening to his emotional speech.
But that wasn’t my favorite moment.
My favorite moment came in Bryant-Denny Stadium when LSU beat Alabama, 46-41. But it wasn’t any of Burrow’s three touchdown passes. It wasn’t any of his other 28 completions. In fact it wasn’t even a play.
My favorite moment of this season came moments after the game ended.
It came when 4 Tigers – Grant Delpit, Thaddeus Moss, Marcel Brooks and Cameron Lewis – ran to the end zone in font of where high-school players that Alabama was recruiting were watching.
“Y’all need to rethink where y’all going,” Moss said as the others thumped their chests.
It was an exclamation point at the end of an exclamation-point type of game.
LSU had just ended an 8-game losing streak against Alabama. It had taken control of the SEC race and the CFP chase.
Four Tigers – the ones who know the LSU program better than anyone else – were sending a message to potential future Bama players, right in front of current Bama players. The message was, “there’s a changing of the guard in the SEC. That team’s time is past the future belongs to this team – to LSU.”
No one knows if those players were right. After all, Bama’s recruiting class is ranked ahead of LSU’s.
But it was a bold, confident display that a new era has begun at LSU – one that will outlive Burrow’s tenure.
I doubt that favorite moment is remembered for very long. Too many meaningful things actually happened for that to maintain some space.
CEH’s performance from that game and his talk with his dad sticks out to me more.
Even when in the midst of a historic season with one of the best players in school history winning the Heisman in historic fashion, even when we’re 6 days away from LSU’s shot at a potential national title, it’s apparently not about LSU for LSU.
It’s been 2 months since LSU beat Alabama, and all their beat writers have done since they overtook Alabama is…. talk about and compare them to Alabama. This article is a great example, as is the LSU beat writer whose column heading on twitter after beating UGA in the SECCG a month later took a shot at Alabama.
That’s the thing about what Nick Saban has created at Alabama. Everyone compares themselves and measures themselves to Alabama, even after they’ve supposedly surpassed them. Even when it’s not about Alabama, it’s about Alabama.
No worries, Saban’s old and beginning to lose his edge. It won’t be long until Alabama returns to being “no big deal”.
Lol…LSU wins 1 time in 9 years…and this LSU fan is saying “Saban has lost his edge”…So you’re accrediting LSU beating Alabama for the first time since 2011 to Saban losing his edge….you must not think very highly of your team or program! Famous last words. You sound like an Ole Miss fan…and they beat bama twice in a row..1 win goes straight to your head. Impressive!
It’s not the one LSU win my friend, it’s Saban’s three consecutive losses to Top 10 teams. Domination in college football is so fragile, it can slip away so quickly. I know this is a dreary message for you to read and an insipid outlook for you to face; but otherwise, Happy New Year!
Well I mean you’re clearly speaking from experience as an LSU fan with a history of college football domination…..so I guess I’ll take your word for it…lol
Man, 3 straight losses (it’s 2 by the way) to top ten teams over the course of 2 seasons…..one of which was in the national championship game. How unbearable. Dang, with that logic, I should have realized that Saban was losing his edge back in 2010 when bama lost three times in a single season…and he only won 4 national titles after that…wow, things are looking pretty bleak!
How about when Bama almost beat them with a wounded defense and a one legged QB?
Bwa-ah-ah-ah ALMOST
Boys, boys, boys, isn’t this what makes the SEC great? You never know which team will beat the other on any day. Just ask a Gamecock if they had the UGA game penciled in as a win. Best of luck to both Bama and the Tigers in your games. Now go make the SEC proud, and Happy New Year.