NEW ORLEANS — A few things struck people about this LSU game, as they dominated Oklahoma.
The score wasn't a concern. The Tigers won by 35. The score could have been as big as LSU wanted it to be.
The way they handled the tragedy of the death of Carley McCord, who of course is Steve Ensminger's daughter-in-law — they were able to compartmentalize that enough to be sad to feel that loss and to still be able to do their jobs, and that was unbelievable.
It was ridiculous how well the LSU offense performed.
Joe Burrow said he didn't find out about that tragedy until after the game. He played free and loose. The whole offense played the way — the way they've done all season.
One thing that struck people when they saw Burrow play in person was how Burrow let go of the ball when a receiver looked covered. It didn't look like Burrow had a place to throw it.
By the time the ball gets there, he's thrown his receiver open, and the receiver has made the play on the ball.
We saw that with Terrace Marshall Jr. We saw that with Justin Jefferson multiple times. We saw that with Thaddeus Moss. It worked over and over again.
Moss said it's about trust. Burrow said the same thing. Burrow was not afraid to throw 50/50 balls to his incredibly talented receivers, and they made plays.
Justin Jefferson, what can you say about that kid, a two-star recruit coming out of Destrehan who was obviously much better than that. Now, he might be a first-round NFL draft pick. He was unbelievable, four touchdown catches for Jefferson on the biggest stage.
As good as the offense was — as on as they were — the LSU defense got maybe its best pass rush of the season.
They kept Jalen Hurts contained. They limited his ability to run. They hit him when he was throwing it a bunch. They got two sacks from K'Lavon Chaisson, and this was a complete win.
Oklahoma put up 28 points — some of those were garbage points— but the LSU defense was excellent.
The offense was unbelievably good. Ed Orgeron said afterwards, it might be the best year a college quarterback has ever had.
LSU wins. They're coming to New Orleans, 16 days from now in the National Championship.
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