The high-powered LSU offense continued to shine on Saturday afternoon with a historic performance from Joe Burrow leading the way to a dominant 66-38 victory over Vanderbilt.
How It Happened:
Things didn’t look great to start in Nashville with Ke’Shawn Vaughn finding a big hole and rushing for 41 yards to get the Commodores past midfield. Vaughn finished the job seven plays later with a five-yard jaunt into the endzone. However, LSU’s offense had other ideas with a five-play drive that only took 1:13 off the clock and ended with Joe Burrow finding Justin Jefferson in the endzone on a four-yard TD pass.
After the Tigers defense forced a three-and-out, Burrow found Ja’Marr Chase and the sophomore wideout made a couple of nifty moves to find the endzone and put LSU up 14-7 with about eight and a half minutes left in the first quarter.
LSU forced another three-and-out and Burrow connected with Terrace Marshall with two straight passes for 29 and 20 yards respectively. Clyde Edwards-Helaire capped off the drive with a three-yard run to put the Tigers up two scores.
Vanderbilt came close to scoring after a big play from Riley Neal connecting with New Orleans native Kalija Lipscomb, but a huge fourth-down stop gave the Tigers another opportunity to score in the first quarter and a minute and 15 seconds later, Burrow found Chase once again with a 25-yard touchdown pass.
After both teams exchanged field goals, Burrow duplicated what he did in the first quarter and found Ja’Marr Chase who took it to the house once again from 51 yards out. The Tigers ended the first half in less than ideal fashion with Edwards-Helaire fumbling in the endzone and Elijah McAllister recovered it in the endzone to make it 38-17 at the break.
Vanderbilt opened up the second half with a botched onside kick attempt that almost saw Micah Baskerville run into the endzone. Burrow took advantage of the short field with his fifth touchdown pass of the day going to Racey McMath to make it 45-17.
Vaughn broke free once again early in the third quarter with a 52-yard run to chip away at LSU’s lead. However, that plan turned sour quickly when Burrow found Chase once again on a 16-yard touchdown pass. That was followed up by a blocked punt that was recovered in the endzone by Baskerville to put the proverbial nail in the coffin.
Big Number: 6
Joe Burrow was feasting on the Commodores defense with almost 400 yards through the air and a program-record six touchdowns. The senior’s legacy at LSU continues to grow by the minute.
Player of the Game: Ja’Marr Chase
Why not Burrow? Chase deserves a ton of credit for two of his touchdowns, using his speed and nifty footwork to get LSU a pair of quick scores on the way to another convincing win.
Next Up: Open Date; Return to Action October 5th vs Utah State
