Lamar Jackson And Louisville Got Shut Down By LSU

A weak first half—particularly from Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Lamar Jackson—doomed Louisville to a 29-9 loss to LSU in the Citrus Bowl.

Louisville was first to score, with a field goal halfway through the first quarter. Everything got worse from there. They didn’t get another first down for the rest of the half, with four straight three-and-outs before giving up a safety. Jackson was sacked five times in the half, going 2-for-10 with passing and putting together -40 yards rushing. (I generally am not a fan of the fact that the NCAA counts sacks against a quarterback’s rushing total, but there’s something kind of special in the opportunity it allows for lines that profoundly sad to exist.) That’s not all Jackson, of course; the offensive line was an equally big part of that failure. Regardless of how the blame is distributed, it looked terrible.

The no. 13 Cardinals were better in the second half, but not enough so. No. 20 LSU continued to dominate, particularly on defense, and Louisville didn’t score a touchdown in the loss. Running back Derrius Guice led the way for the Tigers, with 138 yards rushing and two touchdowns, while the defense had eight sacks in total.

Ouch.