Presented by COMMERCIAL TIRE.

This Day In Sports…January 13, 2020, five years ago today:

As if he needed to, LSU quarterback Joe Burrow validates the Heisman Trophy he won a month earlier, leading the Tigers to a 42-25 victory over Clemson for the national championship. Burrow threw for 463 yards and five touchdown passes, both records for a CFP or BCS title game, and he ran for another score for a total of six TDs, another record. For LSU, it capped a 15-0 season under coach Ed Orgeron, the Tigers’ first national crown since the 2007 season.

LSU started the game sluggishly, trailing 7-0 on a Trevor Lawrence rushing touchdown until Burrow hit Ja’Marr Chase with a 39-yard TD pass late in the first quarter. The LSU offense went back into neutral in the second period, but it was only temporary. After Clemson had taken a 17-7 lead to cap a 96-yard drive, Burrow ran for one touchdown and threw for two more, the second ending a 95-yard march just before halftime, and LSU went into the break with a 28-17 lead. Clemson would close to within three points in the third quarter, but Burrow’s fourth and fifth TD passes of the night sealed it.

LSU rolled up 628 yards of total offense and ended Clemson’s 29-game winning streak while claiming its fourth national championship.  The Bayou Tigers’ 15-0 ledger matched the winningest season in college football history (Clemson had gone 15-0 the year before). For Burrow, the title completed a college journey that began at Ohio State. He had lost a battle for the starting QB job with the Buckeyes and transferred south for his final two seasons. In his senior year, Burrow threw for 5,671 yards, the third-most in FBS annals and almost double that of his junior campaign.

But the biggest number was the 60 touchdown passes Burrow threw in 14 games as a senior. That’s an enormous number. It broke the NCAA mark of 58 set by former Hawaii star Colt Brennan in 2007, when he led the Rainbow Warriors to their best season ever (12-1, with a loss to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl). For comparison’s sake, Boise State great Kellen Moore’s career-high was 43 TD passes during the Broncos’ 12-1 campaign in his senior year in 2011.

(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)

VISIT OUR SCOTT SLANT SPONSOR SITES:

Bacon Boise
Zamzows
Big Bun Drive-In
Western Heating & Air
The James
Commercial Tire