Sunday, December 29, 2019

(L)ooking (S)orta (U)nbeatable

So it's Sunday morning now an-- ooh, look! Joe Burrow just threw another touchdown pass!

Anyway ... it's Sunday morning and the national semifinals are don-- ooh! Another one!

... the national semifinals are done, and we've got our matchu-- dammit, Joe! Stop throwing touchdown passes long enough for me to complete a sentence, will y--

Well, shoot. He just threw another one.

Which is to say, LSU's first Heisman Trophy winner since Billy Cannon threw touchdown passes all day, or at least all of the first half. LSU came one point short of dropping a five-spot on poor Oklahoma in that first half, and that was because Burrow threw seven touchdown passes before the marching bands took the field.

Seven touchdown passes! In one half! And then he ran for another six in the second half, just, you know, for kicks.

I guess that was Burrow's way of saying "Heisman jinx? Pffft. I got your Heisman jinx right here, pal."

I also guess LSU's 63-28 lamination of the Sooners means the Tigers are on a different level from most folks, which might also include the 29-23 survivor of the other semifinal, defending national champion Clemson. Everyone sort of forgot about the Other Tigers after they were nearly upset by North Carolina at the end of September, but then they went about crushing the life out of various Woffords and Wake Forests and Boston Colleges, and then atomized Virginia 62-17 in the ACC title game.

And, well ... here they are again.

Not that they looked particularly scary last night. In fact, for much of the game it was Ohio State that looked scary, going up and down the field on Clemson's vaunted defense like a man cutting his grass. Justin Fields threw for 320 yards and a touchdown on them. J.K. Dobbins gashed them for 174 yards, averaging just shy of 10 yards a carry. The Buckeyes piled up 516 total yards, lived in the red zone all day, and probably would have won had a fumble return for a score not been called back and a helmet-to-helmet hit on Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence not kept a key Clemson drive breathing.

Also, Lawrence, not really a runner, ran for 107 yards and hoofed it 67 yards for six in the dying moments of the first half, getting Clemson back to 16-14 after trailing 16-0.

Also, he connected with running back Travis Etienne on a short pass that Etienne turned into the go-ahead score with a minute or so to go.

Also, Clemson then ended Ohio State's last chance with an interception in the end zone after a Buckeyes receiver ran the wrong route.

If this all makes it sound like the football gods were inordinately affectionate toward Clemson, well ... they were. It's why the Other Tigers, unbeaten though they are, will be underdogs to the LSU Tigers in the national championship game.

Could be another 63-to-whatever dance party for LSU, given what Ohio State did to the Clemsons. But the Blob wouldn't put a lot of coin on that. As last night proved, strange things happen when you give Trevor Lawrence a football and let him jack around with it.

Stay tuned, in other words.

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