Joe Burrow’s record-setting performance in Starkville was enough to make headlines on its own and then came the 4th Quarter sack that showed a side of Burrow that college football had never seen before.
In case you are wondering, Burrow’s moon wasn’t the first for an LSU quarterback playing against a team from Mississippi.
The first time it happened was in 1947. The scene of the crime was Tiger Stadium and the opponent was Ole Miss. LSU legendary quarterback Y.A. Tittle played both offense and defense during this time of iron man football.
Tittle intercepted a pass from the Rebels’ Charlie Conerly and immediately broke a tackle from Joe Johnson, who went for Tittle and only got his belt.
Unfortunately for Tittle, football pants back then were not the tight spandex material that we recognize today. The lose fitting pants required a belt to keep them up.
48 yards down the field “Tittle had the ball in one hand and was holding up his pants with the other” recalled Barney Poole, who remembered his pants went past his knees before grabbing them. Poole was credited with the tackle.
In an interview with The Times-Picayune, Tittle said: “I tried to stiff-arm Barney, and when I did, my pants almost went down. I never felt so alone in all my life.”
Tittle fell down at the Ole Miss 20-yard line. That fall kept him from scoring the game-winning touchdown. Ole Miss won 20-18 and went on to win the SEC that year.
Fortunately for Tittle there were no television cameras or internet around back then to capture the moment. Burrow is not so lucky but at least he has a good sense of humor about it saying “I hear there’s a full moon out tonight in Starkville.”
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