LSU: Greatest Ever?

LSU won - no real surprise. Clemson put up a good fight for the first half or maybe into the third quarter, but LSU has been beating all-comers all year. Looked like Clemson was trying to do the same things UGA tried on defense without success, though Clemson did mix in blitzes, and sacked and pressured Burrow better than most other teams this year. Didn’t help, as Burrow and the other ball-carriers repeatedly side-stepped Clemson defenders for extra yards. 

Late in the game LSU was up 17 and seemed to be able to run or pass or do whatever they wanted. Clemson was on the ropes and turned all around and hardly knew what was hitting them. I kinda remember those late incomplete passes, but doubted Clemson was going to mount any complete three score comeback. Those little things are important though, because you never know how the ball will bounce. Nice that LSU ran out the clock instead of trying to score. Saw Denison’s post that LSU coach and wife are Christians.

Even the Clemson TD pass that was called back on the controversial offensive pass interference call did not factor in the outcome. You could add in the LSU RB’s hand touching out of bounds that wasn’t called, but Clemson just couldn’t cover the LSU receivers one on one. Ceil went to bed around the end of the third quarter, when it was apparent LSU would win. She missed the last LSU TD and Clemson’s TD that was called back, and Burrow coming off the field pointing to his ring finger. Confident kid, though he could sure back it up. On the other side Trevor Lawrence overthrew 13 receivers.

College football’s top eleven players were announced at halftime. Players 15-12 had been announced earlier. (11) Roger Staubach (10) Gale Sayers (9) Barry Sanders (8) Dick Butkus (7) Earl Campbell (6) Red Grange (5) Jim Thorpe (4) Archie Griffin (3) Bo Jackson (2) Herschel Walker, and (1) Jim Brown. At the game were Roger, Barry, Earl, Archie, Herschel, and Brown, with relatives representing Sayers, Grange, and Thorpe. Not sure why Butkus (age 77) and Jackson missed. 

Campbell (64) didn’t look good. Brown (83) looked okay but was moving slow. At 77 Staubach looked decent. Sanders (51) looked good but Walker (57) looked the best. I will review the top 150 later. My big surprise was that Tim Tebow didn’t make the top eleven.

Burrow had a great season. Of course now people are saying he is the greatest ever. Others say Cam Newton. What? How soon they forget halftime, when eleven players were honored on the field as the greatest ever. Barry Sanders had one monster season. Archie Griffin won two Heismans. Herschel won the Heisman, a national championship, and had three record-breaking seasons. Jim Brown was voted the great ever football player – and greatest ever lacrosse player. Also played basketball and baseball. 

Burrow did great the record for most TD passes in a season, with 60. Took him 15 games. Colt Brennan tossed 58 TD’s in 14 games (and 131 in 3 years). Burrow only threw 78 TD passes in four years. Perhaps Colt Brennan is the greatest ever.

Some are saying LSU is the greatest ever team. They’re great, but goodness, people sure have zero sense of history these days. What about Bama’s recent dynasty? Clemson just won 2 championships in 3 years (and played for two more). That’s like a team winning the NCAA basketball championship and being called the greatest ever. What about UCLA under John Wooden? 

This was the first national championship game to not feature a team wearing red or blue. LSU and Clemson wear the exact same shade of purple: Pantone 268 C. This marks the first time since 2005 that both teams wore the same shade of color in the national championship game, when USC and Oklahoma both wore Pantone 201 C red.

Until last night every playoff team had worn the patch on the left chest in the national championship game. LSU was the first to wear the patch on the right. In the 2012 BSC national championship game (also in New Orleans) LSU wore their patch on their left chest and lost