The Joe Burrow Touchdown Bracket: Day 31

Today’s vote is all about teamwork. Teamwork and friendship. This vote will make your warm your heart with all the wholesome goodness happening here.

Today we’re voting between two plays where Thad Moss helps Ja’Marr Chase score a touchdown, and Chase helps Moss score a touchdown. How wholesome is that? Anyway, now that we all feel warm and fuzzy, let’s get to today’s 6 vs. 11 matchup.

No. 6: Ja’Marr Chase’s 50-yard post vs. Arkansas

The context:

LSU ran a similar play in the Florida game with a few slight differences. In the Florida game, Chase was split outside and ran that scissor post concept with Clyde Edwards-Helaire; here, Chase is packed in tight in a 2x2 set and he’s working with Thaddeus Moss. The result, however, is the same: Chase going in untouched for a touchdown.

This play was also the end result of a two, count ‘em, TWO play drive that covered 85 yards. Clyde Edwards-Helaire took a delayed handoff for 35 yards and set up LSU at midfield. Chase took care of the rest and put LSU up 35-6.

No. 11: Thaddeus Moss’s 4-yard out vs. Clemson

The context:

There’s an argument that this touchdown pass to Moss is the single most important one of LSU’s season. LSU opens the second half up 28-17. After ending the first half with three straight touchdowns, LSU gets the ball first but can’t manage anything, gaining a total of seven yards on six plays.

Clemson, meanwhile, gets back to within a possession. On Clemson’s first possession of the second half, it got an extra 15 yards of field possession on a kick catching interference call against Jontre Kirklin, and then K’Lavon Chaisson gifts an additional 15 yards thanks to a facemask. With an extra 30 yards handed to them, the defending champs score a touchdown and convert a two-pointer to make it a 28-25 game.

They say if you want to be the champ you have to beat the champ and that’s exactly what LSU does. After another three and out, LSU finally gets back on track offensively. It starts with Burrow, who runs for 10 and gets LSU its first first down of the half. Then there’s an incompletion followed by a delay of game and LSU’s looking at 3rd and 11. LSU calls for a wide receiver screen to Chase and, thanks to some tremendous blocking by Saahdiq Charles, picks up 43 yards.

The game changes one play later. Burrow hits Justin Jefferson for seven yards and Jefferson takes a shot to the head by Clemson linebacker James Skalski, the captain of the Tiger defense. Skalski is ejected and is replaced by Jake Venables, son of Clemson’s defensive coordinator Brent. We talked two days ago about great quarterbacks knowing when a reserve checks into the game for a defense and Burrow immediately goes after Venables. Venables is lost and, thanks to a helpful rub route by Ja’Marr Chase, Moss slips into the flat and puts LSU back up by 10.