The 2 Joes: How Burrow and Brady transformed LSU into SEC contenders

LSU quarterback Joe Burrow and passing game coordinator Joe Brady have transformed the LSU offense and making them a serious SEC contender.

It’s been eight years since LSU could call itself the best team in the SEC. Back in 2011, LSU nearly went undefeated with a smothering defense headlined by “The Honey Badger” Tyrann Mathieu in the secondary.

Les Miles’ team went 8-0 in conference play, defeating division rival Alabama in the “Game of the Century” and humiliating Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. Nick Saban’s team couldn’t move the ball for the life of it on that early November night in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide never want to remember, remember that Fifth of November.

In Mark Richt’s backyard in Atlanta, blocks away from Historic Mark Richt Field at Bobby Dodd Stadium, his Bulldogs could not be more frightened by the special teams fireworks of “The Honey Badger”. Add in a defense that was so offensive, no wonder Georgia surrendered 42 unanswered points to lose by 32 in their home state’s former NFL cathedral, the Georgia Dome.

At an unlucky 13-0, LSU had a rematch with Alabama for the BCS National Championship.

Despite the Mercedes-Benz Superdome being only an hour and change away from Baton Rouge, LSU looked like Georgia a month prior in Atlanta, completely and utterly listless offensively. The Tigers couldn’t put a single point on the board, as Alabama won its second national title in three seasons with former LSU coach Saban holding the crystal football in the Big Easy.

Since then Alabama continued its quest to become the New England Patriots of college football. While LSU would still win with defense, the offense was what perennially held them back as SEC contenders. The lack of competency offensively saw the great divide between Alabama and LSU.

There were pockets of success with Zach Mettenberger under center from 2012-2013. Playing in a pro-style offense under offensive coordinator Cam Cameron helped. Having two future Pro Bowl receivers, Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry helped more.

Once Mettenberger was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft, passing became an abstract construct for the Bayou Bengals.

LSU kept playing its signature brand of ball-control offense and smashmouth defense in the latter years of Miles’ tenure but resolved primarily into a three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust offensive approach. It was mostly Leonard Fournette and Derrius Guice running the ball at a very high level.

LSU parted ways with Miles in early 2016 after a last-second loss to Auburn in what was a loser-leaves-town match.

Enter Ed Orgeron, the loveable Cajun defensive line coach and recruiting maven. After failing at Ole Miss nearly a decade earlier and being told “no” by the USC administration after the Lane Kiffin fiasco, Coach O got his shot at leading his home state’s greatest college football team. He won enough in 2016 for the interim tag to be removed, becoming the full-time head coach in 2017.

Orgeron has gone 27-9 in his first 36 games and is 6-2 against top-10 teams since 2017. So you’d think LSU has been a serious SEC and College Football Playoff contender for the last year or so?

Not quite. What gives?

“I think we’ve both proved a lot of people wrong at the same time. A quarterback and a coach are always going to have a special bond for sure.”

Well, that might have all changed after last Saturday’s win in Austin. LSU messed with Texas and now officially has the offensive identity necessary to potentially get to Atlanta and force its way into the Playoff conversation.

Redshirt senior transfer quarterback Joe Burrow is now a star signal-caller. He now has his quarterback whisperer in the form of passing game coordinator Joe Brady who came to LSU from the New Orleans Saints. It’s been a long eight years for the Tigers but LSU is back as a legit SEC contender.

LSU went 10-3 last year in Burrow’s first year on campus, beating then-undefeated UCF in the Fiesta Bowl. Yet, three conference losses to rivals Florida, Alabama and Texas A&M kept them out of the national title conversation.

Knowing he had something special at quarterback, Orgeron made a huge leap of faith in hiring Brady off Sean Payton’s staff.

“Joe [Brady] is energetic and innovative,” said Orgeron to The Advocate after Brady’s hiring away from the Saints in late January 2019. … “He brings to our staff extensive knowledge of the RPO game. He’s an outstanding coach that will be a tremendous asset to our football team.” Bringing the run-pass option to a mobile quarterback like Burrow has only opened up things for the increasingly vibrant LSU passing game.

The passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach has made his presence known after a breakout performance by Burrow vs. Texas. Burrow was able to knock the Horns down a peg with precision passing and a Joe Cool persona when adversity inevitably struck, right in front of his former quarterback whisperer and Matthew McConaughey on the Longhorns sidelines.

His former Ohio State offensive coordinator and Texas head coach Tom Herman was a popular choice to replace Miles after leading Houston to the top of the Group of 5. Many felt LSU settled for Orgeron, as the university wasn’t seemingly willing to cough up the big bucks to bring Meyer’s top protegé to SEC country.

After Saturday night’s marquee victory in Austin with the college football world watching, who’s laughing now? We’ve overlooked Orgeron’s head coaching abilities for a while but that’s changing. The same thing can be said for Burrow, who might be the best quarterback in the SEC not named Tua Tagovailoa or Jake Fromm.

“I think we’ve both proved a lot of people wrong at the same time,” said Burrow at 2019 SEC Media Days in Birmingham, Alabama in mid-July about him and Orgeron.

“A quarterback and a coach are always going to have a special bond for sure.” Together, Burrow and Orgeron continue to dispel the naysayers with one victory over a top-10 team at a time.

Burrow outdueled Texas’ emerging star quarterback Sam Ehlinger in his backyard. Ehlinger, an Austin native and the closest thing we’ve seen to Tim Tebow since Dak Prescott, all coached by either Meyer or his disciples, was no match for Burrow’s poise in the pocket, nor his willingness to throw the ball down the field with pinpoint accuracy.

In the best game of his career so far, Burrow completed 31-of-39 passes for 471 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. He averaged an otherworldly 12.1 yards per attempt, leading to an 88.6 QBR in the first signature victory of the college football season.

His father Jim Burrow, the former longtime defensive coordinator for the Ohio Bobcats, was there in person to watch his son deliver the greatest quarterbacking performance of his life while simultaneously being a staunch supporter of the increasingly popular Horns Down movement.

LSU might have been the No. 6 team in the land, but Texas too was a top-10 team. Playing in front of a raucous Big 12 crowd, Burrow put the LSU offense on his back and gave the SEC its third straight marquee victory in primetime vs. a Power 5 foe in as many weeks.

Beating Texas in Austin is no joke and neither is this LSU passing game with Burrow and Brady in the center of it all.

So what makes this passing game so impressive?

Besides it happening at LSU of all places, it is because Burrow can step up in the pocket with confidence and spread the ball around to a bevy of talented receivers.

“You’re going to see an up-tempo offense that’s going to get our speed in space,” Brady told The Advocate at an LSU Coaches Caravan stop in Metairie, Louisiana back in late June. “When you do that, good things are going to happen.” By going with the up-tempo spread, Burrow was able to do what was previously unimaginable in the passing game at LSU.

Junior Justin Jefferson led the way with nine receptions for 163 yards, three touchdowns and a long of 63. Sophomore Ja’Marr Chase had eight grabs for 147 yards and a long of 41. Sophomore Terrace Marshall Jr. was the third LSU receiver with over 100 receiving yards with six catches for 123 yards, a touchdown and a long of 23. That’s the first time the program has had three 100-yard receivers in the same game.

This is LSU, only years removed from the dark ages of the forward pass. Brady and Burrow have worked together marvelously to make the Tigers’ passing game potent, if not lethal.

Of course, this required Orgeron to take more of a CEO approach as head coach to best lead his team. Empowering the right people to make a difference is making a difference.

They’ll need to clean it up on defense after Ehlinger did his best to dispel the notion that LSU is indeed DBU. And, most importantly, LSU will need to beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Nov. 9 to likely get to Atlanta.

All that aside, LSU now has the offense, quarterback and coaching staff to set themselves up for meaningful football this winter. It is no longer a foregone conclusion that Alabama and Georgia will inevitably meet again in Atlanta.

Burrow, Brady, Orgeron and the entire LSU team may have something to say about it as legitimate SEC contenders.