ORLANDO, Fla. — Not a bad way to end the year — or to start the Coach B?B? era at LSU.
Ed Orgeron’s first game as LSU’s certified, full-time head coach went about the well as you could chalkboard it as the No. 19 Tigers manhandled their way to a 29-9 Citrus Bowl victory over No. 15 Louisville and Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson.
“Geaux, Tigers!” Orgeron gravel-hollered from the hastily constructed stage at midfield.
Then he exited stage right where, according to reliable sources among his players in the dressing quarters, he danced the afternoon away doing some sort of celebratory Cajun two-step.
“Make sure you all get out of his way,” Citrus Bowl MVP Derrius Guice reported of the postgame dancing incident.
“We’re awfully excited about our football team, the way they bought into one team, one heartbeat,” Orgeron said. “It was a dominating performance.”
Pretty much across the board — from start to finish.
Guice got the MVP trophy after rushing for 138 yards and scoring a pair of touchdowns, including a 70-yarder early in the second half that was the backbreaker for Louisville.
But even he tried to shift the credit to the LSU defense which held the quicksilver Louisville (9-4) attack without a touchdown for the first time since 2010.
“The defense …” Guice said, shaking his head, “played a heck of a game and, you know, shut them down.”
Defensive coordinator Dave Aranda’s latest game plan held high-powered Louisville without a touchdown and made life miserable for Jackson, with eight sacks, including the Tigers’ first safety in a bowl game in 42 years when Arden Key nailed him in the end zone late in the first half.
Jackson, the dual-threat bumble bee who was responsible for 51 touchdowns this season, was held to 10 of 27 completions for 153 yards and netted 33 yards on his 26 rushes.
“They were bringing a lot of … linebackers, getting to me and stuff like that,” Jackson said. “LSU had a great defensive scheme, so I couldn’t really tell you what happened.”
Jackson’s 186 yards of total offense was 225 below his season average.
“When you give Dave three weeks to prepare, he’s going to prepare,” Orgeron said.
The Cardinals, who at one point went six consecutive possessions without a first down, started the game 0-for-13 on third-down conversions and finished 2 of 17.
“It’s hard to convert third-and-long and third-and-extra-long against a team like that,” Louisville coach Bobby Petrino said. ‘But they had good pass rush and tight coverage … you don’t have a lot of room for error.”
LSU (8-4) probably didn’t need much offense with Jackson stifled.
But quarterback Danny Etling threw for 217 yards and a pair of touchdowns, both scores and most of the yards in the first half when the Cardinals were bottling up Guice.
“We thought that we were better than they were with our wide receivers versus their DBs,” Orgeron said. “We liked the matchup that we had. We knew they were going to be very physical up front, and they were good up front, but we took advantage of some mismatches in the secondary.”
Malachi Dupre caught seven passes for 129 yards, including a 36-yarder to set the tone on the game’s first play.
Guice’s 70-yard run early in the third quarter got the running game going and expanded the Tigers lead to 23-6.
“Danny did a great job with the pass game to open up the running lanes,” Guice said. “The receivers did a great job keeping the drives going.
“Then everything just executed the way we planned.”
Elting was 16 of 29 with a pair of 1-yard touchdown passes, to Guice and to tight end Colin Jeter.
Colby Delahoussaye kicked two field goals after missing from 38 yards on the Tigers’ first possession.
“The first half they pretty much had me bottled up,” Guice said. “Then the second half, just waited for things to set up and develop, and I was able to hit a long run. That’s just how the game goes. You’ve got to be patient and let things set up. You’ve got to trust your linemen.”
And your defense.
“When you’re going backwards, it’s really hard to make first downs against them,” Petrino said.
But it was a big step forward for Orgeron, who got the full-time coaching gig after going 5-2 in LSU’s final regular-season seven games.
“I’m happy for the team,” Orgeron said. “I’m happy for the Tiger family. This is never going to be about me. Interim coach, full-time coach, it doesn’t matter. I’m just happy to serve. It’s an honor.
“We look forward to building a championship program here. We’ve got work to do.”
But a little more dancing first.
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