Behind the Box Score: The Peach Bowl Massacre

Well, that was fun.

The problem with winning a game so thoroughly and so quickly is that the box score starts to become sort of useless. The two teams spent an equal amount of effort in the second half trying to run the clock out so we could all go home.

Such is the nature of blowouts.

692. LSU’s total yards. 497 of those came in the first half, so imagine if LSU put forth a full throated effort in the second half. Oklahoma gained 322 yards, split almost evenly between the two halves: 160 and 162. LSU essentially put up a full game’s worth of offense in one half.

15-31-217. Jalen Hurts’ line. Unfortunately, almost every game now gets billed as a comparison between the two starting quarterbacks and how they compared to Joe Burrow. Hurts was a Heisman candidate and… well, he didn’t measure up. He got smacked around all game, though he did add two touchdowns on 14 of 43 rushing. Not a good day, mind you, but a little bit better.

7. Second half possessions. The two squads went back and forth in the first half. Hell, LSU scored seven touchdowns in the first half, but in the second, no stat shows how the two teams let the air out of the football more than the lack of drives. Oklahoma had just one third quarter drive and three in the second half. LSU’s shortest drive that didn’t end in the victory formation was 4:40. LSU ran 35 plays in the second half, of 74 total, and simply contented themselves to move the ball slowly down the field. Their three longest drives by number of plays and time were all in the second half.

2. Clyde Edwards-Helaire carries. He gained just 14 yards, but he was a cool decoy on the first TD and he drew one of the more egregious targeting fouls you’ll see, as the Oklahoma defender decided to go for the cheap shot instead of, you know, stopping the guy running for a third down. But in limited duty, he looked healthy, which bodes well going forward. Chis Curry went 16-89 in his absence, and looked great doing it.

14-227-4. Justin Jefferson’s line. Wow. That’s really all you can say. Wow.

4-119-0. CeeDee Lamb’s line. On a day in which most of the OU team looked hopelessly outmatched, let’s take a moment for the guy who looked like one of the best players on the field. He was the Sooners offense for the most part and he’s going to make all of the money in the NFL. Good for him.

8. Patrick Queen tackles. 1.5 of them for a loss. Backing up that talk with the walk. It ain’ bragging if you can do it. He led LSU in total tackles.