Ed Orgeron and LSU football benefited from Joe Burrow playing last year.
It was an undeniably magical year for Joe Burrow, Ed Orgeron and all of LSU football in 2019.
Though the LSU Tigers were likely going to be a top-10 team anyway, who outside of Baton Rouge, Louisiana saw the Bayou Bengals going 15-0 en route to a College Football Playoff National Championship? Orgeron became everybody’s favorite college coach and Burrow became the greatest player in LSU football history. Can you even imagine if Burrow didn’t play last season?
Here is what Orgeron had to say about the importance of having a college football season, even in the age of the coronavirus. “Joe Burrow, last year, was a sixth-round pick going into the season and he ended up being the first pick,” said Orgeron. We’ve got to give our players this opportunity if it’s safe for them. They deserve it, our fans deserve it, our country deserves it.”
Which players will be hurt the most by not playing football this fall?
While the ACC, the Big 12 and the SEC are adamant about playing this season out of the Power 5, the Big Ten and the Pac-12 are not going to have their college football seasons this fall, hoping to play in the springtime. In the Group of 5, the AAC, Conference USA and the Sun Belt plan to play, while the MAC and Mountain West have punted on having a college football season this fall.
You have to feel terrible about all the players and coaches who had their seasons canceled on them. For some, like Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Justin Fields, he was robbed of a Heisman Trophy and a national championship. He was the favorite to take home the award and his team was poised to face the Clemson Tigers in the national title bout in January. Now, he’ll just turn pro.
Out west, players like Oregon Ducks offensive tackle Penei Sewell and USC Trojans quarterback Kedon Slovis won’t have the opportunity to become more mainstream names in college football. Like Fields, Sewell will go pro, but Slovis still has to wait another season at USC before he can even be draft-eligible in 2022. Surely, there are hundreds of players who will be hurt by not playing.
This year’s Burrow could have played out west or up in the midwest and now, we’ll never know.
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