LSU dominates season opener 55-3 behind Burrow's historic night
Ed Orgeron said it all offseason. So did his quarterback Joe Burrow. So did every skills player on the roster. Yet Saturday night was an outcome that would've been hard for any of them to predict.
LSU fans were promised a different offense in 2019 and at least for one night, the Tigers delivered on that promise with a dominant first half of football that produced 42 points in route to a 55-3 win over Georgia Southern in the Tiger's season opener.
Joe Burrow said in interviews earlier this week that the goal was to get as many as five running backs and eight receivers involved throughout the course of the game. Well mission accomplished Joe.
Burrow completed passes to nine different players in the first half, while throwing for 253 yards on 20-of-24 passing and tied a school record with five touchdown passes, all thrown in the opening 30 minutes.
"We have a great scheme," Orgeron said. "Steve [Ensminger] and Joe [Brady] did a tremendous job with checking with me and putting everyone in the right place. I thought Joe [Burrow] was on fire. he threw some great balls, our receivers caught the, there were receivers that were open, that were great concepts that were going on out there. We had no sacks tonight which I'm very pleased with."
The senior quarterback had one drive in the third quarter to go for the record, but the team settled for a 39-yard field goal from freshman Cade York, the first of his career. Instead, it was sophomore Myles Brennan who commanded much of the offense in the second half.
Burrow has nine touchdowns thrown in the last two games, dating back to the Tigers 40-32 bowl win over UCF, which are the most by an LSU quarterback ever in a two game span.
The LSU offense outgained Georgia Southern 180-7 in the first quarter with touchdown passes to Ja'Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson with Clyde Edwards-Helaire tacking a rushing touchdown. The offense outgained the Eagles 473-98 for the whole game.
Sophomore wide receiver Terrace Marshall turned in a stellar performance with three touchdowns in the first half, the first touchdowns of his LSU career.
"He's had a really good camp," Orgeron said of Marshall. "When he came to us he was still nursing a hamstring injury so this is the first time he's gone through an offseason camp so he's in great shape. He's a phenomenal receiver for us."
With Brennan and most of the second and third stringers controlling the majority of the playing time, the offense didn't have the same pop that was seen in the first half, scoring 13 points. Brennan went 4-of-9 on the evening for 65 yards.
All week long the defense was pestered with questions about the triple option offense of Georgia Southern and all week long they were respectful in their answers. When it came to gametime on Saturday night, they were anything but respectful.
Domination was the one word that explains the performance from the defense, holding a team that averaged 226 yards on the ground in 2018, to 74 yards rushing and 24 more passing.
Orgeron said multiple times how he's challenged the team to be 'elite' in the turnover margin, with a goal of anywhere between +18 and +20 in their minds. The Tigers forced two fumbles to a Georgia Southern team that committed only five turnovers in all of 2018.
"It was tremendous, especially that sack-fumble by Rashard Lawrence," Orgeron said. "I was glad to see we had penetration by our defensive line and I thought that was the difference in turning the ball game."
With Michael Divinity held out of the game for an unspecified reason, the Tigers went with Jacob Phillips and Damone Clark at inside linebacker, and the two didn't disappoint. Phillips and Clark combined for 19 tackles and one quarterback hurry.
"Like I've said in every interview watch out for Damone Clark," Orgeron said. "I look at linebacker grades on a daily basis and I see some 67% and I see 100% by Damone Clark everyday. He's dangerous, a good tackler and has good speed we just weren't able to rush him very much."
Orgeron said the coaching staff and defense couldn't have prepared any better for the triple option offense thrown at them by the Georgia Southern offense.
LSU will be traveling to Austin, Texas for a highly anticipated matchup with No. 10 Texas Longhorns next week.
