College Football Playoff: SEC speed powers LSU to blowout over Oklahoma

LSU absolutely boat-raced Oklahoma in their College Football Playoff National Semifinal game at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.

The College Football Playoff has produced a lot of lopsided games in its short history, but none quite as painful to watch as this year’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl between LSU and Oklahoma, where the Tigers dominated from the opening kickoff in a 63-28 win.

And it wasn’t even that close.

This was a brutal display of what the SEC refers to as their size and speed, particularly on defense. The LSU defensive line started the game by forcing Oklahoma to punt after losing a total of six yards on three plays, and the rout was on from that point on.

The Sooners looked like they were walking into hurricane-force winds, and Jim Cantore wasn’t there to direct them away.

Tigers quarterback Joe Burrow set a record for touchdown passes (7) in a New Year’s Six bowl game and College Football Playoff game, as well as a Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, and his favorite target — Justin Jefferson — set Peach Bowl, New Year’s Six and CFB Playoff records for receiving yards (227) and touchdown catches (4).

Most of those records fell before halftime.

Everything LSU attempted to do seemed to work, and on the flip side, everything Oklahoma tried blew up in their faces, including an ill-advised hybrid flea flicker that ended up in the arms of LSU defender, Kary Vincent Jr.

The yards piled up, the stats became video game-esque and the records were shattered beyond repair. All of this begs the question — did the College Football Playoff committee get it that wrong?

Twitter chimed in.

Sensing a trend here?

Joe Burrow, as he’s done all season, put on a clinic and all but solidified himself as the number one overall pick in the upcoming NFL Draft (watch the Bengals blow this one now), and as possibly having the greatest season ever for a college quarterback, dependent on what happens in the national championship game.

But beyond Burrow’s stellar game you had to look at the trenches and see just how dominating the LSU offensive and defensive lines were against overmatched Oklahoma. Burrow was given all the time he needed to find open receivers, and the LSU running backs were averaging nearly six yards per carry.

The Tigers defensive line harassed Jalen Hurts all night, and kept him from getting into any kind of rhythm. To his credit, Hurts never gave up the fight even when it was too far gone to hope for a comeback.

Oklahoma was out of their depth and is now 0-3 versus the SEC in College Football Playoff games, 0-4 overall, and has given up 199 points in their four appearances in the postseason tournament, giving further support to the argument that Big 12 defense is simply a myth.

For LSU’s part, they now will move on to their first national championship game since being run out of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome 21-0 by Alabama in 2011, and as fate would have it, that’s where they’ll be suiting up in 2020.

LSU head coach Ed Orgeron said after the game:

"“What a tremendous job by everybody. One team, one heartbeat. Everybody in our organization. We got tremendous play by Joe Burrow and have a great coaching staff. Just getting there (New Orleans) is not our final destination. We’re looking to win it. I think our guys didn’t skip a beat. We had two great weeks of practice and a great game plan had a great game plan. It’s also about the offensive line and protection.”"

LSU is looking to win it, and it seems almost inevitable at this point. The Tigers look unbeatable and have now disposed of Alabama, Florida, Auburn, Georgia, and Oklahoma in one season. All powerhouses. All no match for LSU. It’s doubtful either Clemson or Ohio State will be either.

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