National Championship Discussion: The Tiger Bowl

To recap
This line may be, or probably is, inflated. The other possibility is that the last few LSU lines were woefully short and terrible, which would render all of the hypothetical lines for this game, as of three weeks ago, moot. Had the Georgia line been two touchdowns instead of one, had the Oklahoma line been 3 touchdowns instead of two these “value” based picks and discussion would have sounded exactly like they do today, and they would have lost all the same.

Clemson could cover or win this game and it wouldn’t be a shock, but if you’re taking that side you’re probably much better off capping whether, or how, they’re going to score 34-40 points instead of simply saying the line can’t possibly be correct.
 
Appears there was something about that LSU offense that just could not be quantified by metrics/power ratings. They blew through every good defense they played and looked the exact same as they did vs Utah St or Georgia Southern. I think they put up 10+ yards per attempt on Florida, Auburn, Georgia, Bama, and Clemson. That's just not supposed to happen. You're supposed to come down vs good teams/defenses and they simply didn't flinch at all.

I took Clemson +6. It closed +4. 99.999999% of the time that's a tremendous bet, but it feels like the market movers were just wrong here and LSU can't be quantified metrically. Think M.O.T is correct in that books and "sharps" incorrectly priced LSU vs great teams because they never once suffered a dip in play vs those teams. You had to pric LSU's offense vs Clemson like if they were playing Utah St which is hard to imagine. A real case study to be sure.
 
LSU by DD. The most explosive offense in SEC history. Led by the most prolific qb in conference history. Their wr core could be as good as any in the nfl and Moss is starting to get the ball more at tight end. If their rb is healthy, they win pretty comfortably.

I like last year's Clemson team a lot more than this one. The last few games now that the defense has been healthy LSU has been dominant.

Pretty cool to see the top qb in next years draft battle the top qb in the 2021 draft. Burrow cements himself as the greatest athlete in the state's history. By the way Bourbon St will be lit.

Some times you get it right. This one i think a lot of people over thought it. LSU's defense was better in my opinion also. What an amazing season for that University.
 
bottom line. The LSU offense was just too much for anyone to stop this year.
came out of no where, less game films to adjust/adapt to.
They had all the right players on the offensive side of the ball to be unstoppable.
 
It was always going to be about who could keep up with them, never about stopping them. That offense put so much strain on the opposing team offense, because they felt/knew they had to score every time they had the ball. I think there was only one offense that had a chance, and LSU passed that test in November
 
He’s not as good of a route runner but Marshall is even more of a physical specimen than Jefferson and Chase. He missed a few games and was in/out in others due to injury but still had 13 touchdowns himself. His TD last night finished off my 9/9 units on the game with the team total and his prop.
 
Chase is a badass. Feel like he wins every 50/50 ball. Maybe not as polished or as fast as Jeudy, but more physical and more "dog" in him if that makes sense. He's the clear #1 WR going into next season.
 
Outside of the osu clemson playoff game there weren’t that many great games imo. Regular season was meh, conference championship games were weak, bowl season has continued to be mediocre, etc

Playoffs have killed a lot of that. Unless there are clear playoff implications in a game, it won't receive near the interest. And the top 3 were so clearly above anyone else, it was really just a waiting game until they played each other
 
Etienne was the focus of the LSU defense according to SWAGU this morning on the radio. I didn’t realize he may be just as strong as Clyde in his legs. That’s saying something. 2 things swung this game from what many expected. LSUs defense was underrated all year for a plethora of reasons and Lawrence didn’t perform close to the level he was suppose to given the focus on Etienne. LSUs Offense had an off game as crazy as that sounds. Credit that to Clemson’s D and Venables style of disguising. I will say LSU could’ve scored a couple/few more times in the fourth quarter but too much was at stake. I smell sour grapes/losing ticket to call this game or season boring. Of course, I loved every minute of it though.
 
Etienne was the focus of the LSU defense according to SWAGU this morning on the radio. I didn’t realize he may be just as strong as Clyde in his legs. That’s saying something. 2 things swung this game from what many expected. LSUs defense was underrated all year for a plethora of reasons and Lawrence didn’t perform close to the level he was suppose to given the focus on Etienne. LSUs Offense had an off game as crazy as that sounds. Credit that to Clemson’s D and Venables style of disguising. I will say LSU could’ve scored a couple/few more times in the fourth quarter but too much was at stake. I smell sour grapes/losing ticket to call this game or season boring. Of course, I loved every minute of it though.

It may be because of what the LSU defense was doing, but I felt that Clemson went away from Etienne way too early. Especially since Lawrence was having a rough night. That's what LSU did to teams all season though, forced them out of their comfort zone because they knew they had to score on basically every possession.
 
Etienne was really something to see in person, so strong and sudden and seems to be at top speed as soon as he touches the ball. Hard to describe it but it just felt like he could take it the distance at any moment. LSU had much better success when they forced him wide and his shoulders weren’t square to the line, but otherwise felt like it was just a matter of time until he busted out. Great player.
 
The announcers were making a lot of bold assessments after the game and while they seemed hard to believe at first, I think they got them all right. Among them:

"Joe Burrow just had the greatest season of any QB in history." Every fact supports that conclusion. One of only a handful of QBs to ever go undefeated, win the National Title, and win the Heisman. Broke the all time record for touchdown passes and total touchdowns, broke the playoff records for touchdowns, passing yards, and total touchdowns, most touchdowns in a CFP game, highest completion percentage in history, won the Heisman by the widest margin ever and with the most votes ever.

"LSU is the best team ever." This one is not so clear, but they are undefeated national champions, beat more top 10 teams than any team ever, beat more top five teams than any team ever, first team ever to beat the top four teams in the pre-season poll, averaged 47 points beating Bama, Georgia, Oklahoma and Clemson, all road games, by an average of 21 points, first SEC team ever to go 15-0,

"Most entertaining (some said most interesting) college season of any team ever." Hard to beat a story with a QB no one thought could play, a coach who everyone thought was too dumb to be successful as a head coach, and the team wins a national championship, the QB wins the Heisman, and the coach becomes the most perfect fit for the culture of a university and a state in the history of the game.

What a season.
 
I think it’s tough to make the best team ever argument because inevitably you have to refer back to some form of objective measurements and due to the defensive personnel issues in the first half of the season those metrics will not favor them. But I would put the offense up against just about any other.

Maybe the better argument would be the best resume ever.
 
I think it’s tough to make the best team ever argument because inevitably you have to refer back to some form of objective measurements and due to the defensive personnel issues in the first half of the season those metrics will not favor them. But I would put the offense up against just about any other.

Maybe the better argument would be the best resume ever.

It's so hard to compare different eras, and too often we judge college teams on what their players do in the pros. I can't imagine a better offense than what LSU had this season, even if in 5 years we aren't talking about multiple all-Pros and future HOFer's. I would have loved to have seen this LSU team against a generational defensive team
 
You SOBs make me want to chew glass. It was never good enough until it was all over. I do appreciate that others are starting to appreciate them though. It was a helluva ride. Burrow was so nails he has us trained to reflect on the effort last night as below average. The more outsiders doubted the more his fire was fueled. We are so lucky that Ohio State couldn’t find a place on the field for him. We can only hope that his actions entice other promising QBs to give us a shot. We’ve been a QB away my entire lifetime it seems. Coach O fitna eat!
 
Chase is a badass. Feel like he wins every 50/50 ball. Maybe not as polished or as fast as Jeudy, but more physical and more "dog" in him if that makes sense. He's the clear #1 WR going into next season.
I’ve never seen someone like him. J.J. is route run king, but Chase goes up and gets it better than anyone
 
Joe Brady going to Panthers. Don't know if it was him or Burrow, but I'm not sad to see them both move on
 
I’d say probably 40-30-30 Burrow-Brady-receivers. Maybe even a little higher for Burrow.

A bunch of folks in the program, from players to staff, will never see their stock be any higher. A lot will look to cash in.
 
I think it’s tough to make the best team ever argument because inevitably you have to refer back to some form of objective measurements and due to the defensive personnel issues in the first half of the season those metrics will not favor them. But I would put the offense up against just about any other.

Maybe the better argument would be the best resume ever.
To add to this just from a fan excitement perspective. We know all of the traditional top teams aren’t necessarily contenders or at their best each year, but it’s still natural for the games against “name” teams to be hyped up more. Running through Florida, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, and Clemson as the defending champ doesn’t get much more exciting.
 
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