CFB National Championship

Maxwell Donaldson, Sports Writer

LSU beat Clemson with a score of 42-25 to win the national championship. Even with Clemson starting off with dominating LSU on either side of the ball but only leading at the most by 10. They were able to slow down the LSU offense but once LSU made their adjustments, Clemson wasn’t able to slow down LSU offense. Joe Burrow led the LSU offense with 463 yards and 5 passing TDs and also added 58 yards and a touchdown on the ground. This was the perfect ending to one of the best seasons by a quarterback in CFB history with 5,671 yards and 60 TDs. At times it seemed that Joe Burrow was able to do what he wanted when he wanted. His top target was Ja’Marr Chase who went off for 9 receptions, 221 yards, and 2 touchdowns. Peach Bowl star, Justin Jefferson followed that performance up with 9 receptions and 106 yards. Their star Tight End Thaddeus Moss had 5 receptions only 36 yards but 2 touchdowns. 

 

This was one of the worst performances for Clemson’s Quarterback Trevor Lawerence college career, going 18 for 37 with 234 yards and no touchdowns. He only added 49 yards on the ground, even though that seemed to be the best part of his game after his 143 total yard first quarter and a rushing touchdown. Travis Etienne became the all-time leading rushing in Clemson Football history in one of the few bright spots of the game while 78 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown. This was not a good night for the Clemson offense as they were not able to get over 400 yards and only managed 25 points. 

 

Not all the blame can be put onto the Clemson offense as after a good start the Clemson defense struggled to slow down Burrow and the LSU offense. After starting the game in a 33 stack and a lot of 7 defensive back sets, which slowed down the LSU offense; LSU offense exploded in the second quarter for 21 points and over 250 yards and never looked back. They went into the half with a 28-17 lead and while Clemson got another touchdown with a 2-point conversion to pull within 3 points but never scored another touchdown while LSU scored 2 more to ice the game and win their 4th national championship in program history.