This one didn’t go to seven overtimes. Not even close.
It was a bloodbath in Death Valley Saturday night, as No. 2 LSU blew out Texas A&M 50-7 to cap off an undefeated regular season for the first time since 2011.
“12-0, what a tremendous feat for our coaching staff, our 15 seniors, our whole football team,” said LSU coach Ed Orgeron. “Great things happened tonight. I think we played 60 minutes of LSU-standard performance and what we’ve been looking for all year.”
LSU started the game full throttle and never really let up. And while Orgeron was worried about what the emotions of last year’s loss would bring, the Tigers came out to “take care of business” as Joe Burrow said.
The Tigers scored on each of their first five drives — four touchdowns and a 51-yard field goal by kicker Cade York — while the Tiger defense held Texas A&M scoreless through the entire first half. LSU only punted once in the first half when quarterback Joe Burrow was sacked on back-to-back snaps.
Burrow went 23-for-32 with 352 yards and three touchdown passes — one to Justin Jefferson for 12 yards and two to Ja’Marr Chase for 78 and 18 yards. He also broke SEC record for single-season passing yards (4,279) and tied the single-season passing touchdowns (44) in the win.
Chase had seven receptions for 197 yards.
Joe Burrow gets his curtain call in Tiger Stadium. Finishes the day 23-of-32 with 352 yards and three touchdowns.
— kennedi landry (@landryyy14) December 1, 2019
Also this fire picture. https://t.co/qtfjjoEnZb
Orgeron said this was the best the LSU pass rush has looked all season.
The Tigers defense sacked Texas A&M quarterback Kellen Mond six times with linebackers Patrick Queen and Damone Clark, as well as defensive lineman Rashard Lawrence and Neil Farrell notching one sack each. Edge rusher K’Lavon Chaisson had 1.5 sacks.
Mond did not have his best night through the air either, going 10-for-30 with 92 yards and three interceptions by LSU safeties Grant Delpit and JaCoby Stevens and nickel Kary Vincent.
“I thought we rushed the passer very well,” Orgeron said. “We dialed up some blitzes. We put pressure on the quarterback. We didn’t allow them to beat us one-on-one. I though our defensive backs made some tremendous plays on the football. It was just an overall tremendous night.”
LSU went into halftime with a 31-0 lead and the defense held steady until late in the third quarter when a blown coverage led to a 45-yard completion from Mond to Isaiah Spiller. Spiller scored from a yard out two plays later, spoiling LSU’s shutout and trailing 34-7 with 4:13 left in the third quarter.
The Tigers didn’t allow the Aggies to score again, and even forced a safety late in the fourth quarter to make the final score 50-7.
“We’re nothing to play with when we play for 60 minutes,” Stevens said. “I know a lot of people have been criticizing us, saying this and saying that. But when we’re actually 100 percent, we’re really a dominant defense.”
The offense struggled with the pressure coming from Texas A&M’s defensive front to start the second half, but that didn’t last long. After settling for a field goal late in the second quarter and again in the third, Burrow threw his final touchdown in Tiger Stadium to Ja’Marr Chase with less than two minutes left in the third quarter to put LSU up 41-7 before turning it over to Myles Brennen and company.
Burrow said he felt like the defense came ready to send a message to the rest of the country with their performance and they did exactly that.
But despite wanting to prove themselves, Orgeron said he nor the team was focused themselves and blocking out the noise, despite what the College Football Playoffs Committee may have said last Tuesday.
“We take it one game at a time,” Orgeron said. “We control our own destiny. We are just taking it one game at a time. No matter what anybody says, they are going to pick this apart and pick that apart. It doesn’t matter, you have to win the game.”