The Joe Burrow Touchdown Bracket Sweet Sixteen: Day Three

Both matchups in the Big Dick Joe Region advanced comfortsbly, seeting up a 1 vs 3 matchup for a bid in the Final Four. Today we move on to the Cigar Region for a 1 vs 5 pairing. Both plays came in the closing seconds of the first halves of the two biggest games of the year, so let’s get right to it!

No. 1: Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s 13 yard catch just before halftime against Alabama

Why it should advance:

There is catharsis, and then there’s LSU’s 2019 win over Alabama. Beating the team that had beaten you eight times in a row would feel good regardless of circumstances, but the way LSU did it was beyond special. Had LSU won 13-10, every LSU fan would’ve rejoiced, but there wouldn’t have been the full exorcism of our all demons that this beautiful reality provided for us. Because of the way LSU’s offense eviscerated Bama, we aren’t just happy we beat them, but we aren’t afraid of them anymore. They aren’t the boogeyman terrorizing us every night any more, they’re just another team in our way.

No play in this game was more emblematic than this one. When Edwards-Helaire soared over the pile to put LSU up 13 with 26 seconds left before halftime, it felt like about as much as LSU fans could ask for.

Then Patrick Queen intercepted Tua Tagovailoa, returning it to the 26. With 11 seconds left, we’d have a chance at a field goal. However, we then saw Landon Dickerson’s cheap shot on Kary Vincent Jr. that moved the ball half the distance to the end zone. For about 45 seconds, LSU fans were outraged Dickerson wasn’t ejected from the game.

Then we laughed manically as LSU scored its second touchdown of the final 30 seconds of the first half. This game was something else.

No. 5: Thaddeus Moss’ 6 yard catch just before halftime against Clemson

Why it should advance:

If your favorite type of play is a touchdown right before halftime to give LSU a double digit lead against a team that won a College Football Playoff National Championship between 2015 and 2018... then I’m sorry you have to pick.

Much like the previous play, this touchdown in itself is fairly routine, but the circumstances and sequence of events leading up to the touchdown made it an eruption of excitement. For most of the start of the title game, the 29-0 Clemson Tigers looked like they might have finally deciphered the puzzle that is defending the 2019 LSU offense. But before anyone knew it, Burrow and company were a purple and gold avalanche. Already leading by four, LSU converted three third downs on its way to a pitch perfect drive that put the Tigers up 11, a lead insurmountable by the rest of college football.