BATON ROUGE, La. — Myles Brennan may be succeeding one of college football’s most prolific quarterbacks in Joe Burrow. It was KJ Costello who produced numbers Saturday, in Tiger Stadium nonetheless, that we’ve never witnessed in the SEC.
Not even from Burrow.
Costello and Mississippi State coach Mike Leach unleashed the Air Raid offense on LSU (0-1, 0-1 SEC) to the tune of an SEC single-game record 623 passing yards and five touchdowns as the Bulldogs shocked the reigning national champion Tigers, 44-34.
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Costello’s output was the second most single-game passing yards against a top-10 opponent (LSU came in at No. 6 in the AP poll). It’s the 11th-most passing yards by any quarterback in FBS history. Washington State’s Connor Halliday and Texas Tech’s Patrick Mahomes share the top spot with 734 yards in 2014 and 2016, respectively.
“I thought it was a really good debut,” Leach said. “I mean some of his turnovers were his fault and some weren’t. But I think it’s a good start.”
That’s pretty high praise from Leach given he’s witnessed B.J. Symons, Graham Harrell and Cody Hodges throw for more yards in one game under his guidance at Texas Tech. Still, Costello obliterated the previous SEC single-game record held by Georgia’s Eric Zeier of 544 yards against Southern Miss in 1993.
“I don’t think any individual could visualize this taking place,” Costello said.
Costello’s play even raised Mahomes’ eyebrows drawing this message on Twitter from the Super Bowl-winning quarterback: “Wait wait dude has 600 passing yards?!?!?”
Leach pointed out one aspect that became increasingly apparent from the onset. Composure.
Costello came out firing and never stopped. He’d throw an interception, and then continue taking shots. He’d have a snap bounce off his face for a lost fumble. No worries.
Leach described Costello, who transferred to Mississippi State in February, as being “the same guy every play.” Costello was “about as good as anyone I’ve ever dealt with” in handling the two interceptions, including a pick-six, and two lost fumbles.
“I thought his composure was outstanding,” Leach said.
That’s why Costello handled collapsing pockets so well. That’s why he dropped deep balls repeatedly into buckets far too often for many of the 21,000 fans in Death Valley. Costello completed passes for first downs on situations like third-and-20 and third-and-13, as well as three touchdown throws on third-and-9 or longer. He’d also make the right reads on wheel routes and any other route to All-SEC tailback Kylin Hill, who piled up 158 receiving yards on eight receptions and a score as compared to only 34 rushing yards on seven carries.
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LSU suddenly lost All-American cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. for Saturday’s game after coming down with a non-COVID related illness Friday. There’s no way to really gauge how much of a difference Stingley would have made. Regardless, Costello picked apart basically every defender involved in LSU’s pass coverage.
Credit Costello. No doubt. But “embarrassing” is probably too nice of a description to characterize what happened to the defense guided by Bo Pelini, making his second debut Saturday as LSU defensive coordinator.
Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa threw for 418 yards against LSU last season, the most by an opponent in 2019. Costello came up with more yards than that with about five minutes remaining in the third quarter.
“I told the team we’ll find out what we’re made of,” LSU coach Ed Orgeron said.
It’s also remarkable how Brennan and Costello each made their starting debut Saturday for their respective teams. And yet each quarterback entered the 2020 season opener with slightly differing degrees of experience.
Brennan’s last start occurred for St. Stanislaus (Miss.) in November 2016 during the Mississippi high school playoffs. Costello’s last start happened in November … 2019 … for Stanford … at Colorado … after having already thrown 750 passes in college.
As for Brennan, I’m curious to see how LSU loyalists gauge his play. Costello did Brennan no favors being far more composed in the pocket than the Tigers’ passer.
Numbers like 345 yards and three touchdowns would normally be nothing to dismiss. His two interceptions came on a play where State’s Jordan Davis batted Brennan’s arm on the throw with receiver Racey McMath wide open for a score if Brennan was clean in the pocket. And the second pick came on a hail mary heave at the end of the game.
But it took some time for Brennan to start taking any sort of shots downfield. I’m talking more than easy short throws. He opened up with about six minutes left in the half when he found tight end Arik Gilbert for a 16-yarder along the sideline. The next play Brennan connected on an underthrown deep ball that Jaray Jenkins still caught for a 47-yard gain.
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Brennan produced a similar sequence in the third quarter. He began with a tight throw to McMath for 27 yards followed by a 27-yard TD connection with Terrace Marshall to give LSU a 24-20 lead. But far too often Brennan seemed jumpy and skittish in the pocket. He struggled going through his reads at times, unwilling to pull the trigger and missing out on attempts to connect with open pass catchers.
“Execution all around the board just wasn’t there,” Brennan said. “We started slow and got going in the second half, but I’d say we need to just start a little bit quicker.”
Costello and his band of 100-yard receivers — Hill, Osirus Mitchell, Javonta Payton — never relented on LSU’s secondary. A tough spot for any LSU quarterback to overcome, much less one making his first collegiate start.
It’s unfair to compare Brennan’s opener to any of Burrow’s games in 2019. Expecting Brennan to be Burrow now or ever is unrealistic. I remember covering Burrow’s debut against Miami (FL) at Jerry World in 2018. The most significant play I lauded came early in that game when Burrow audibled to a running play for Nick Brossette. Almost like I grasped for straws on a compliment.
There’s no doubt the rest of the SEC have been put on notice for Leach, Costello and the Bulldogs offense. You might be hard-pressed to find another quarterback outside of Florida’s Kyle Trask who will be better than Costello at this rate.
“But God, I don’t know why I’m conditioned to think about all the stuff we left out there,” Costello said. “It’s amazing in a way. But it’s a special day for a lot of the guys who worked extremely hard.”
At least for Brennan, LSU’s defensive woes far outweighed his issues Saturday afternoon. As for wondering if we’d ever imagine a quarterback running up the statsheet and the scoreboard like Burrow, I never imagined I’d watch it in my first game back to Tiger Stadium since Joe “Burreaux” and LSU thumped Texas A&M last November.
It was from a player making his debut with his team, and not the one Burrow played for last year.
(Top photo of KJ Costello: Derick E. Hingle / USA TODAY Sports)
