National Championship Game Preview: The Battle Between Two Tigers

On January 13th, 2020, we will see the battle.

Shere Khan versus Tigger.

One Death Valley against another.

A recently-awoken sleeping giant from the State where Laissez Les Bons Temps Roulee isn’t so much a catchphrase as a way of being against the perennial joke that’s now put the joke on others.

It’s ACC vs SEC.

It’s the battle between two recruiting powerhouses.

Two well-liked coaches in Ed Orgeron and Dabo Swinney.

Two high-octane offenses, featuring one quarterback who was a pretty much an afterthought this season, but exploded into a Heisman winner, a feature on the front cover of Sports Illustrated, a future Top-5 round pick, and the God of one of the most spellbinding offenses college football has ever seen. The other quarterback started the season as a Heisman favorite, fell away from the pack after a slow start, but found some sort of redemption against one of the best defenses in the nation with a 65-yard rushing touchdown and a late-game winning passing touchdown.

One brilliant offensive mind against one of the most brilliant defensive minds of a generation.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it’s Monday Night in the Death Valleys. The National Championship’s on the line. LSU and Clemson….make it fun.

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We can’t wait. We can’t wait. We can’t wait.

Vegas has the spread as 6 1/2 in LSU’s favor, with the over/under set at 60.5. These two sides have such offenses that the 60.5 could be blown out in the first two quarters, let alone the first four. The betting boys think this one will be fun, too.

The certainty is that with all the bells and whistles that LSU has  – organised by offensive geniuses Joe Brady and Steve Ensminger – when it’s bombing the ball for thousands of yards, this will be the best defense they have faced this year. Points-wise, LSU’s worst outing was against Auburn, when they put up 23, but still managed over 500 yards of offense. The mind boggles.

Clemson’s offense – run by OC Jeff Scott (who’s leaving to be head coach at USF after this game) – ain’t bad either. Although Joe Burrow put up ungodly numbers this year (5,208 yards, 55 TDs, 6 INTs), we have to give Lawrence a bit of love, too. Lawrence threw for 3,461 yards, 36 TDs and 8 INTs. He’s not thrown an interception since October 10th.

Receivers-wise, and you are free to drool. Because everyone else is. On one side LSU has got the freaks. J’Marr Chase has 1,559 yards and 18 TDs. Justin Jefferson has 1,434 yards and 18 TDs. Terrance Marshall has 625 yards receiving and 12 TDs. Pick your poison, please. Then on Clemson’s side, it’s Tee Higgins (1,115 yards, 13 TDs), Justyn Ross (789 yards, 8 TDs) and Amari Rodgers (418 yards, 4 TDs). Clemson’s numbers look so much worse than LSU’s, but that’s because Clemson was always up by 900 by the end of the first half (unless it was against UNC), and most of the stuff was done by back-ups.

Clemson also has the fact that it’s got the 5-10, 210 lb lightning-in-a-bottle that’s Travis Etienne. He’s been the difference-maker all year long, logging 1,536 yards on the track (with 18 TDs), as well as 32 receptions and 4 other visits to the house. This has meant that when Lawrence has not been playing well, Etienne has picked up the slack. For LSU, Clyde Edwards-Helaire has also been a battering ram. Despite his 1,304 yards and 16 yards, as well as 50 passes caught for 399 yards and 8 house calls. Is it just us, or does he seem to be somewhat understated in THAT Joe Brady offense? And yes, we remember his touchdown against Alabama.

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We wish the best of luck to the two people tasked with trying to stop these juggernauts – the defensive coordinators.

Brent Venables and Dave Aranda did a good job of quietening Ohio State and Oklahoma respectively, but these two tigers have a roar to wake up the dead.

For Venables, he’s going to have to pick his poison and basically try to cover Chase and Jefferson with a mixture of top safeties K’Von Wallace and Tanner Muse, and hope that Burrow doesn’t thread the needle to Terrance Marshall and Thaddeus Moss, son of THE Randy Moss. Oklahoma put all their efforts on stopping Chase (restricting him to just two receptions), and it worked admirably. But their shoddy secondary couldn’t stop Jefferson and Moss, who scored a combined six TDs against them.

It should also be fun to watch Venables’ best weapon – 2019 Butkus Award-winning linebacker Isaiah Simmons roving around. The future first round pick had 97 tackles, 3 Interceptions (including the game-winning one against Ohio State), six passes defenders, one fumble recovery and two forced fumbles this year, and he’s going to be rough to stop. Joining him will be seniors James Skaliski and Chad Smith, who will – on top of everything else – be charged with not letting Burrow scramble (he ran for 310 yards and 4 TDs, and consistently makes throws while scrambling) and try and get a hand to his throws. Good luck with that, again.

And while we’ve given a lot of crap to Dave Aranda (we called LSU a ‘Big 12 team’ in November, thanks to the team’s shoddy defensive play), it has to be said that this defense is improving, and improving fast.

While we’re not sure what they are up front, linebackers Derek Phillips (105 total tackles) and K’Lavon Chaisson (6 1/2 sacks) have both been excellent. In the secondary, the team has gone from very ordinary to excellent in a relatively short space of time. After a poor, injury-scarred first half of the season, consensus pre-season All American Grant Delpit, who we were looking forward to seeing all year long, has really come back into his own. In the last three games he’s been the shut-down, avoid-at-all-costs safety that we’ve all known he is, roving around like a wolf.  But it was somewhat of a surprise that given Delpit’s first half poverty that he gained the Jim Thorpe Award. Because compared to JaCoby Stevens (85 tackles, 3 INTs, 6 Passes defended), Derek Stingley (6 INTs) and Kristian Fulton, who’s also had 13 passes defended, he hasn’t been great. Like Clemson, LSU’s secondary will also have to pick its poisons. I mean, try stopping Rodgers, Ross, Higgins and Diondre Overton, while also keeping an eye out for Travis Etienne. Delpit’s going to have to keep up his season-ending form, or Etienne could be running all night.

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So what’s going to happen on this wild, wild night?

Here’s for certain: 75% or more of that crowd in the Superdome will be drunken, obnoxious LSU fans, willing their team on. In other words, it’ll be like Death Valley, Baton Rouge on a Saturday night.

And with the wildness, the field could be wilder. It’s not going to be the 23-20 of the Auburn/LSU game. It’s not going to be the down and dirty battle of Ohio State and Clemson in the semi-final. It won’t be the beatdown of the semi-final in Atlanta that LSU gave to Oklahoma, either.

It’s going to be a darned track meet. And college football will be all the funner for it.

PREDICTION: LSU 44, Clemson 42 (after over-time).