Remember when Joe Burrow’s legend started vs. Texas
Not too long ago, it was the Cincinnati Bengals rising star quarterback Joe Burrow seeing his legend begin at the collegiate level when he was a member of the LSU Tigers taking on Texas football during the 2019 campaign. Burrow and the eventual National Champion Tigers were facing Texas and former head coach Tom Herman back in 2019, when it looked like the men in burnt orange were the ones vying to prove their status as College Football Playoff contenders.
But it would be Burrow and the Tigers that got the last laugh against Herman, former Texas star quarterback Sam Ehlinger, and the Longhorns during a key non-conference game in Austin in 2019. Burrow would get a tough test in Austin at DKR against the Longhorns. But LSU would still come out on top by the final score of 45-38.
At the time, the Longhorns were the No. 9 ranked team in the country and LSU was No. 6. This looked to be a high-octane game that could determine positioning in the College Football Playoff.
Thinking back to when Joe Burrow and No. 6 LSU upended No. 9 Texas football at DKR
That would prove to be true for one of these teams at the end of the 2019 regular season. But Texas would wind up falling off once they moved into Big 12 play. Texas wouldn’t really be a College Football Playoff contender to speak of after the first few weeks of the 2019 season.
Yet, the first real setback the Longhorns suffered was against LSU in Week 2. Burrow and the Tigers were embarking on a journey that would take them to the top of the college football world. And their first big victory would wind up coming against Texas.
In a back and forth game, it was hard for the Texas defense to ever get the upper hand on that explosive offense led by Burrow and former LSU offensive coordinator Joe Brady.
Burrow would come out firing from the very start of this game. The same could be said for Ehlinger too. By the end of the first half, Burrow would already have a couple of touchdown passes to former LSU star wideout Justin Jefferson. Fellow LSU star wideout Ja’Marr Chase would later get involved.
But it would be two first-quarter touchdowns from Jefferson and Burrow that would get the LSU offense started in what amounted to a very explosive outing for them.
Burrow and Jefferson continued their special connection in this game in the second half. That included a 61-yard touchdown pass from Burrow to Jefferson that wound up being the game-winner down the stretch in the second half.
Chase was also partially responsible for really taking the top off the Longhorns’ defense in the second half. Fellow Bengals rising star Chase came up with nearly 150 receiving yards on eight catches. But he didn’t get any touchdown catches in this game.
The other standout LSU wide receiver that the Texas defense had a hard time stopping in this game was Terrace Marshall Jr.. Marshall came up with more than 100 receiving yards and one touchdown catch that helped LSU fire a shot at Texas early in the second half.
All in all, though, what really made this outing special for Burrow and the Tigers was one play in the second half. That aforementioned 61-yard receiving touchdown from Burrow to Jefferson would be essentially the ultimate deciding factor in this game.
Burrow escaped one pass rusher for the Longhorns and managed to find Jefferson who would outrun the entire Texas secondary on his way to his third receiving touchdown of the game.
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Texas would wind up getting one more touchdown from Ehlinger to former star Longhorns wideout Devin Duvernay to bring the game back within one score. But Texas couldn’t come up with the onside kick on their final shot to tie this game. That would give LSU the seven-point win and start Burrow down a path that would see him win the Heisman Trophy and the College Football Playoff National Championship Game in 2019-20.