Joe Burrow brings swagger, heart to LSU offense
BATON ROUGE, La. — In a game featuring No. 5 LSU and the high-flying Ole Miss Rebels, the dual-threat quarterback most failed to recognize was wearing purple and gold.
Joe Burrow, five games into his tenure at the Tigers’ starting signal-caller, flaunted another element of his game on Saturday night. Burrow completed 18-of-25 passes for 292 yards and three touchdowns, but turned heads with another 96 yards rushing, including a 35-yard run to ice LSU’s fifth consecutive win.
Much of the focus entering this SEC tilt was on Ole Miss’ dynamic passer, Jordan Ta’amu, who also has the ability to thread defenses with his legs. Cleverly, Tigers offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger leaned on his quarterbacks’ ability to make plays in the run game in a decisive 45-16 victory.
“A lot of people don’t know he’s that fast,” laughed sophomore right tackle Austin Deculus. “Lot of people don’t know he has the heart he has, that he’s actually going to lower his shoulder and hit somebody.”
Collisions aside, Burrow carefully ran out of bounds more often than he did earlier in the season. Designed quarterback runs and some self-called bootlegs resulted in a team-high mark in rushing for the first-year starter.
Looks aside, the 6-foot-4, 216-pounder now ranks fifth in the SEC in rushing yardage by a quarterback, trailing only State’s Nick Fitzgerald and Keytaon Thompson, Kentucky’s Terry Wilson and Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond, who are notorious for their playmaking abilities with both their arms and legs.
LSU coach Ed Orgeron, who admits to taking a cautious approach with his quarterback’s designed run calls because of depth, is perfectly content taking advantage of teams not accounting for Burrow as a dual-threat playmaker.
“We’ve played against running quarterbacks. It’s defending 12 men with quarterback draws and read-options,” Orgeron said. “You can run a run-pass option with Joe, no question. He’s a good dual-threat quarterback. We only have two quarterbacks so we can’t run that stuff.”
Burrow accounted for 388 yards of total offense and four touchdowns against the Rebels. The offensive outburst helped LSU eclipse 500 total yards of offense for the first time this season, improving its total yardage for the fifth time in as many weeks.
The team’s 45 points scored was also a season-high.
Individually, Burrow has now etched his name in the LSU record books. His total yardage on Saturday night ranks six all-time in a single-game behind Rohan Davey (540, 2001), Tommy Hodson (433, 1989), Davey (444, 2001), Brandon Harris (402, 2015) and Jesse Daigle (400, 1991). Like his predecessors, Burrow is coming into his own as LSU’s quarterback.
“He’s doing a great job,” sophomore wide receiver Justin Jefferson said. “He’s taking these big chances with the receivers and the whole team really. He has this swagger … His swagger on the field is different than most quarterbacks. With that swagger, he gives us a little pump. He’s more outgoing, always making jokes in the huddle. He keeps up laughing.”
Burrow’s go-to joke has been his propensity not to slide. With nine rushing attempts against Ole Miss, he slightly adjusted his plans, running out of bounds more often instead of dropping the shoulder and inviting contact.
Swagger, heart and the ability to eat up chunks of yardage with his arm and his legs are just a part of the package that Burrow brings to this LSU offense.
“He said he ain’t sliding. He’s getting extra yards by not sliding,” said Jefferson.
The record book shows that Burrow is right.