The Joe Burrow Touchdown Bracket: Day Two

Day one of our Burrow bracket has come and gone and you voted that this Joe Burrow tunnel screen to Terrace Marshall was the more impressive touchdown scored by the reigning Heisman trophy winner.

What’s the reward for advancing out of our play-in game? It has a date with the bracket’s No. 1 overall seed, the epic 3rd and 17 touchdown pass to Justin Jefferson against the Texas Longhorns.

Well, good luck, screen pass. It was fun while it lasted.

The context:

Week two. The ABC Saturday night game of the week. LSU in Austin taking on the Texas Longhorns.

The Tigers debuted its brand new, high flying offense the previous Saturday against Georgia Southern, scoring 55 points and throwing for 350 yards. Texas, on the other hand, was riding the momentum of the previous season’s Sugar Bowl win over Georgia, its 45-14 rout over Louisiana Tech and was declared BACK for the umpteenth time.

LSU has the ball late in the fourth quarter. The Tigers are up six and driving, looking to go up two scores and ice the game. LSU has the ball on the Tiger 46, a deep shot on first down to Justin Jefferson goes long and then the Longhorns’ Brandon Jones brings down Burrow on a nickel blitz.

3rd and 17. Darrell K Royal Stadium is rocking. Kirk Herbstreit had just finished saying “I still can’t believe they’re throwing it down field” and he’s right. For the past decade or so LSU is content running the ball, forcing Texas to use the remainder of its timeouts and make one final defensive stand.

But not this Tiger team. In a situation where logic demands a conservative call, LSU goes to the air. Burrow evades pressure up the middle, stepping right into the jaws of the Texas blitz and hits a crossing Justin Jefferson. Jefferson stiff arms a Longhorn defensive back, and turns it up the LSU sideline to deliver the knockout punch.

3rd and 17 might be the single most important play of LSU’s historic 2019 season. It was LSU’s way of declaring to the country things are different now. It’s a true “where were you when...” moment. 3rd and 17 is the play that put Burrow in the Heisman discussion and LSU as a force to be reckoned with in 2019.