Hurts struggles against LSU

ATLANTA — Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts had the worst game of his season on Saturday inside the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The former Alabama starting quarterback transferred to Oklahoma and became a Heisman finalist this season — in fact he finished as a distant runner-up to winner Joe Burrow of LSU.

Hurts entered Saturday’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl having thrown for 3,634 yards with 32 touchdowns while completing 71.8 percent of his passes. Hurts also rushed for 1,255 yards, scoring 18 touchdowns and averaging a healthy 5.7 yards per game.

Hurts though struggled from the start as he was sacked by LSU’s K’Lavon Chaisson on the first play of Oklahoma’s first possession. The rest of the game wasn’t much better as LSU routed Oklahoma 63-28.

Hurts ended the game completing 15-of-31 passes for 217 yards, zero touchdowns and one interception. LSU also bottled him up as runner holding him to 43 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns.

“They got great players,” Hurts said. “Really athletic players. Fast and play strong. They rally to the ball. When you play this game, you talk about the controables. We didn’t take advantage of our opportunities and that is something we can control.”

Curry Gets the Start

The big question heading into the game was whether or not running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire would play. The LSU star had been nursing a hamstring injury which had him as questionable to play. Edwards-Helaire did play a few snaps (2 carries for 14 yards) but he didn’t start.

Many expected that either true freshman running backs Tyrion Davis-Price or John Emery Jr. would get the majority of the reps but it was Chris Curry that was LSU’s feature back on Saturday.

The redshirt freshman led all rushers with 89 yards on 16 carries and averaged 5.6 yards per carry. Davis-Price had 25 yards on 4 carries while Emery had 1 carry for 6 yards which was a fourth-quarter touchdown.

Peach Bowl Notes

Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow became the first player in FBS bowl history to be responsible for 8 touchdowns in a bowl game. Burrow had seven touchdown passes (including four to Justin Jefferson) and then added a 3-yard rushing score in the third quarter. — LSU tight end Thaddeus Moss had 4 receptions for 99 yards and 1 touchdown. The touchdown catch of 62 yards in the second quarter was the longest catch by a tight end in LSU history. — Myles Brennan saw action late in the game as he came in for Burrow in the fourth quarter. Brennan completed 3-of-3 passes for 39 yards. — Oklahoma was averaging 75 yards in penalties per game entering the game. The Sooners came close to reaching that average with 8 penalties for 62 yards. — LSU offensive guard Damien Lewis injured his ankle during the game and had to be carted off the field. LSU head coach Ed Orgeron had no timetable of how long Lewis would be out for.

Quotes of the Day

“I mean LSU is good team. They are good enough team that you are going to trade blows no matter what. We made some uncharacteristic-timed mistakes there in the second quarter. You can’t give a team like that any help.” — OU head coach Lincoln Riley on team’s 63-28 loss to LSU

 

“January 13th is the record we are worried about.” — LSU quarterback Joe Burrow on the meaning of all the records the team set on Saturday.