LSU Rolls Over Sooners 63-28 in Peach Bowl, Head to National Championship Game in New Orleans
What happened Saturday afternoon in Mercedes Benz Stadium, to put it simply, was the stuff of legend.
Whether it was Joe Burrow's seven touchdown passes or Justin Jefferson's four touchdown receptions, the Tigers 63-28 rout of Oklahoma provided an eye-popping moment nearly every step of the way.
The offensive performance was so unique, the Peach Bowl communications department passed out a sheet of the records that were broken, in the first half alone. And that sheet was a full page long.
There was Burrow's seven touchdown passes, which broke the Peach Bowl, New Year's Six and CFP semifinal records while his 403 passing yards also broke the CFP semifinal record.
In addition, Burrow's 55 passing touchdowns are now the second most for a single season in NCAA history, two behind Colt Brennan, who had 58 in 2006. The senior quarterback also became the all time LSU leader in passing touchdowns, passing Tommy Hodson (69) with his 70th touchdown pass as the first half drew to a close.
"To be honest, it wasn't my sharpest game. This guy was bailing me out on a couple throws that I had missed," Burrow said. "Guys like Terrace and Ja'Marr were bailing me out on misreads and being late with the football. I'm excited to get back to practice and tune those things up. That's the kind of team we have."
Then there was Jefferson's first half that saw the junior break the Peach Bowl, New Year's Six and CFP semifinal record for touchdowns and the Peach Bowl record for receptions by days end (14).
In total, Jefferson hauled in 14 balls for 227 yards and four touchdowns while Burrow went for 493 yards and eight total touchdowns, both College Football Playoff records. The offense as a whole scored 49 points in the first half alone, also Peach Bowl, New Year's Six and CFP semifinal records.
"To have this receiving corps and have Joe throwing it to us kind of makes our job easier," Jefferson said. "All we have to do is catch the ball. Going and practicing every day, working with each other, being competitive, just being our normal self, just being goofy, just laughing all practice. That's what we do. So just not being really, you know, so serious all the time. Just being our self and Joe just makes our job easier."
The 63 total points would go on to set a College Football Playoff record, coming on a six-yard John Emery touchdown run.
"I've been a part of some good football teams, but I've never been part of an offense like this," coach Ed Orgeron said after the game. "I felt that we were going to do very, very well. And I felt, against Oklahoma, in order for us to get ahead, we had to score every possession. I had the utmost respect for Jalen Hurts and CeeDee Lamb, not to think that we wasn't going to stop them, but I thought we had to get the pedal to the metal and get a big lead, which we did."
While the offense was historically great, particularly in the first half, the intensity and performance of the defense was nothing to sneeze at either.
"We had pressure on the quarterback. We felt we could win the one on ones with them," Orgeron said. "We stopped the run game. Coach Aranda had a tremendous game plan. The counter read, I haven't seen anybody stop it. The key was Jalen Hurts not beating us with his feet. We did a great job with that."
Sooner quarterback Jalen Hurts was scrambling all afternoon thanks to the LSU pass rush as Hurts mustered only 57 rushing yards while passing for another 217.
Outside linebacker K'Lavon Chaisson had a hectic afternoon, recording six tackles and two sacks while Kary Vincent recorded the game's lone turnover, an interception off of Hurts with LSU already up 35-14 in the first half.
The Tigers held Oklahoma to 14 first half points while the offense was doing its thing on the other end. Oklahoma would add 14 more points in the second half, which tied its season low on offense from a points perspective.
Up next for the Tigers is a berth to the National Championship game in New Orleans against either Clemson or Ohio State. There's a chance it could be against Burrow's former team, the Buckeyes.
When asked about the potential matchup after the game, with a cheeky grin on his face, Burrow told the truth.
"I'm excited to play in the national title game," Burrow said.
