Jayden Daniels may have fallen a game shy of becoming the first rookie quarterback to lead a team to the Super Bowl on Sunday.
The Philadelphia Eagles took care of that, pulling away for a 55-23 win over Daniels over and Washington.
But the former LSU star wasn’t the reason for the loss — he didn’t fumble four times — and is still the talk of the NFL.
So Daniels is a lock to win the rookie of the year honor.
Among the other four finalists he’ll beat out are two of his LSU teammates from a year ago, wide receivers Malik Nabers (Giants) and Brian Thomas (Jaguars).
Do the math — that’s three of five finalists, joining the Raiders’ Brock Bowers and the Broncos’ Bo Nix, who were Tigers last season.
So, of course, LSU head coach Brian Kelly is catching more grief as to how the Tigers wasted Daniels and his receiving entourage on a 10-3 season.
Well, Daniels did win the Heisman Trophy, you’ll recall. So it wasn’t like the Tigers didn’t utilize his talents and quiet leadership.
LSU did lead the entire nation in scoring and total offense that season.
The answer to why that LSU team didn’t reach the playoffs, perhaps, was in the Sunday’s second game, the AFC championship.
Maybe you noticed Patrick Mahomes lead the Chiefs to their third consecutive Super Bowl by holding off the Bills.
Give a talent like Mahomes a workable defense by his side and you’re on to something.
Daniels had that historically bad defense at LSU, and was again mostly having to outscore his Commanders’ defense while winning two playoff games before the team hit the wall.
Mahomes can sympathize.
Right now, he is kind of the face of the NFL, least ways when Taylor Swift isn’t hogging the giggly celebration shots.
Maybe you’ve heard of him, but LSU knew all about Mahomes before he was a household name.
Go back to 2015 when the Tigers faced Mahomes and Texas Tech in the Texas Bowl in Houston.
There were rumors heading into the game that the Red Raiders had this video-game cheat code at quarterback, but few outside Lubbock knew much about him. In talking before the game to some scribes who covered Tech, they raved about him but several thought baseball pitching might be his best sport.
I don’t know about his curveball. All I know is Mahomes was clearly the best football player on the field in that day — and the most exciting by a wider margin — even though LSU’s Leonard Fournette was named the MVP after rushing for 212 yards and four touchdowns while adding another score on a 44-yard pass.
Rushing to Daniels’ defense LSU chased that Mahomes rascal all over the field, back and forth, one play after another, often as not in frustration — Where’d he go? — as he jitter-bugged and side-armed completions from every possible gyration, seemingly standing on his head at times.
Afterwards, LSU’s defenders looked as if they’d been on the wildest roller coaster in the amusement park.
Oh, one side note: For all Mahomes’ derring-do, LSU, with the workmanlike (to put it delicately) Brandon Harris at quarterback, won the game 56-27 and it wasn’t really even that close.
It would be something of a reach to say Harris outdueled Mahomes.
But Harris had a defense with him (this was when LSU could tackle and occasionally cover). The Texas Tech defense was helpless, which was fortunate for the Tigers.
That was when LSU seemed to be wandering offensively desperately searching for a quarterback. A popular parlor game among LSU fans in those days was to watch their games and fantasize aloud what might happen if the teams could switch quarterbacks.
Had Mahomes jumped ship for the Texas Bowl that day, introduced himself to LSU’s skill players and taken a turn against the Red Raiders defense, the Tigers likely would have hit triple digits.
Anyway, if you’re keeping score at home, you’ll note LSU once beat both of the quarterbacks who’ll be dueling in this latest Super Bowl.
The Eagles’ Jalen Hurts had transferred from Alabama to Oklahoma in 2019 when he had the misfortune to run up against the best team LSU ever fielded. In fact, the Joe Burrow-led Tigers were in the discussion for the best of all time from anywhere even before winning the national championship.
Hurts, too, showed up at the Peach Bowl CFP semifinal without a defensive complement.
There wasn’t much Hurts could do about Burrow’s seven touchdown passes in the first half — triple-digit alert? — before the Tigers settled for a 63-28 win.
Point is, maybe a good defense is the only thing keeping Daniels out of the Super Bowl right now.
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Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at scooter.hobbs@americanpress.com