No. 11 LSU made good and sure there would be only one national title claimed in the 2018 season by ending the nation’s longest winning streak on the very first day of the new year.
The Tigers rang in 2019 by knocking off No. 8 UCF 40-32 in the Fiesta Bowl on Tuesday afternoon, thumping the Knights to end their 25-game win streak dating back to the beginning of last season.
Leading the way was LSU’s suddenly prolific passing game. With tailback Nick Brossette fighting for every bit of his 117 yards rushing, quarterback Joe Burrow turned in a career day on the big stage. Not only did he bounce-back from an early pick-six that saw him get nailed on the return, the Ohio State transfer wound up throwing for 394 yards and four touchdowns. All told, it was the best performance under center for the Tigers in at least five years and the first time a signal-caller had four touchdown passes against a ranked team in the past decade.
Fellow transfer Cole Tracy also capped off his season in style, kicking four field goals in the game to set a handful of single-season records at LSU.
Though the final score indicated a somewhat comfortable win for Ed Orgeron’s squad, the self-proclaimed defending champions had their chances to make things interesting but never could make that big play at the right moment to put momentum firmly in their corner.
Quarterback Darriel Mack filled in for the injured McKenzie Milton once again and had a rough go with pressure on quite literally every single dropback he had. Though he did throw a lovely touchdown pass just before halftime, the signal-caller was sacked five times, threw an interception and managed just 97 yards through the air as UCF’s normally prolific offense was held to just 4.3 yards a play (and 250 overall).
The end result was something quite foreign to the program: a loss. It was the Knights’ first in 745 days and snapped the nation’s longest win streak in its tracks at 25 in a row -- good enough for the fourth longest since 2000. The performance will also only serve as fuel to those that doubted the AAC champions should have made it in this year’s College Football Playoff.
*checks mentions*
— UCF Football (@UCF_Football) January 1, 2019
Goodness it appears salt intake is off to a record pace in 2019.