The College Football Playoff semifinals began with Joe Burrow obliterating records. It ended with Trevor Lawrence orchestrating a gritty comeback.
In two weeks, the two will share the sport’s biggest stage — the national championship pitting No. 1 LSU against No. 3 Clemson in New Orleans — with everything on the line. The late-blooming senior and unlikely Heisman Trophy winner (Burrow) against the hotshot, can’t-miss sophomore who has never lost a college game (Lawrence).
The two quarterbacks owned the semifinals, but in two very distinctly different ways.
Burrow eviscerated Oklahoma as he has the rugged SEC, throwing a playoff-record seven touchdown passes, completing 29 of 39 passes for 493 yards and also running for a score. If he broke a sweat, it was from racing to the end zone to celebrate with his teammates so frequently.
Lawrence, playing from behind for the first time in his career, having to play almost the entire first half without star wide receiver Tee Higgins, got by on guts. He ran for a career-high 107 yards that was highlighted by a 67-yard dash to pay dirt, threw for 259 more yards and two scores and, in what so far is the signature moment of his career, drove Clemson 94 yards in four plays for the game-winning touchdown with 1:49 remaining.
The go-ahead score was a 34-yard touchdown pass to running back Travis Etienne, a play Lawrence admittedly didn’t like, and he struggled executing in practice. He ran up to the line, as if he was going to run, pulled up and hit Etienne with a jump pass. When it mattered, he ran it perfectly.
“That was one of the best performances I’ve seen by a quarterback, as far as toughness, as far as making plays with his legs when he had to,” former Ohio State coach and Fox Sports analyst Urban Meyer said on Big Ten Network. “That was an incredible performance by Trevor Lawrence.”
There are many appealing storylines to this showdown, but everyone will be fixated on the two quarterbacks, the potential No. 1 picks in the next two NFL drafts. Burrow has been the story of this season, the Ohio State transfer who was mediocre in his first season at LSU and has somehow morphed into a touchdown-throwing machine. He threw 48 touchdowns and set an NCAA record for complete percentage (77.6) on his way to winning the Heisman by a record margin — he wasn’t even considered a fringe contender in August — and that was before his record-setting performance against Oklahoma.
Lawrence, the preseason Heisman favorite, was somewhat forgotten this year after becoming the first true freshman quarterback to start for a national champion since Oklahoma’s Jamelle Holieway in 1985. He started shakily, throwing five interceptions in his first three games, and while he rebounded to close the regular season with 20 touchdowns and no picks in his last six games, he was hardly tested by the putrid ACC.
He more than answered the bell Saturday night against Ohio State, thriving in the most difficult moment of his career against a formidable defense while facing a major deficit. He was sacked three times, bounced around by the Buckeyes, but kept coming, kept gashing them on the ground.
“Whatever it takes to win,” Lawrence said. “I’m not really a runner but I told our defense ‘I’ll lay it all out here for y’all here if you get us the ball.’ ”
But now comes the biggest challenge for both. Lawrence has to face the Heisman Trophy winner. Burrow has to deal with the player most experts believe is the best quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck.
Everyone else, meanwhile, can sit back and enjoy this matchup of future Sunday stars. If the semifinals were any indication, Lawrence and Burrow are going to put on a show.