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You want balance? LSU has 1,415 rushing yards and 1,415 passing yards on the season

The No. 5 Tigers (6-1, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) enter their game against No. 22 Mississippi State (4-1, 1-2 SEC) with the exact same number of rushing yards as passing yards — 1,415.

BATON ROUGE — LSU may not have the greatest offense yet, but one cannot call the Tigers one-dimensional.

The No. 5 Tigers (6-1, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) enter their game against No. 22 Mississippi State (4-1, 1-2 SEC) with the exact same number of rushing yards as passing yards — 1,415.

LSU is still primarily a running team as it has run 61 percent of the time with 308 rushes for the 1,415 at an average of 202.1 yards a game for sixth in the SEC. Meanwhile, quarterback Joe Burrow is No. 8 in the SEC in passing yards a game with 201.1 on 104-of-195 passing for 1,415 yards — ahead of both Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm and Florida quarterback Feleipe Franks.

LSU has not had more passing yards than rushing yards in a season since 2013 when Zach Mettenberger was a senior quarterback and at the top of his game with 1,000-yard wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry. He threw for 3,082 yards that season for No. 3 on LSU's all-time list while the Tigers amassed 2,630 yards on the ground.

Burrow, who had a 59-yard run in the win over Georgia Saturday, is also No. 7 in the SEC in total offense as he has rushed for 242 yards on 58 carries for a total of 1,657 yards and 236.7 a game. With five regular season games to play and at least one postseason game, he is just 209 yards away from breaking Jordan Jefferson's LSU quarterback rushing record for a season of 450 in 2010.

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First-year offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger is clearly spreading things around.

"Absolutely, he's a great coordinator for us, great leader," Burrow said. "We just try to execute the plays how he wants them executed, and we've been OK throughout the season and hoping to get better."

LSU remains just 11th in the SEC and 100th in the nation as a team with the 202.1 yards passing a game. But the balanced yardage has been able to keep opponents, well, off balance at times, particularly out of the hurry-up, no-huddle attack Ensminger has used.

"You know, they did a good job of mixing it up," Georgia coach Kirby Smart said Saturday after the Tigers gained 475 total yards — 275 rushing, 200 passing — on the SEC's No. 1 defense coming into the game at 283 yards allowed.

"When people go fastball, hurry-up, a lot of times they're just running the ball, running the ball, running the ball," Smart said. "Well, they took shots outside to good wide-outs."

Eight receivers caught passes for the Tigers.

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"And what happens is you're not as effective rushing the passer when they block with seven, so you can't get pressure when they go fast and block," Smart said.

"They were just throwing the ball to the outside on one-on-ones, and we weren't able to cover better because we had to stop the run. And we weren't stopping the run well. When you don't stop the run, it makes it hard to do anything. That's where we were. We had to be exposed and put our corners out a lot."

Mississippi State will bring the SEC's No. 1 total defense with 289 yards allowed a game to Tiger Stadium on Saturday.

"They have very good balance," State coach Joe Moorhead said. "They have a good mix of pro style and spread."

Burrow was not surprised that the rushing and passing game are each at 1,415 yards.

"We're effective doing both things, and that's been really good for us so far," he said.

"Our coaches are all on the same page, led by Steve, giving the LSU Tigers their best shot," said LSU coach Ed Orgeron, who stays out of the offense for the most part.

Wide receivers coach Jerry Sullivan, an NFL veteran of 25 years as a receivers coach, is very much involved as well.

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"They cover everything from A to Z," Orgeron said. "Steve is going to be able to take what the defense gives him. He's going to be able to make adjustments with our staff. I think we have a very cohesive staff. I think that's the thing I'm most pleased with. I like the daily operations."

Other than Burrow, who has ran or passed on exactly 50.1 percent of LSU's plays at 253 of 504, LSU has shared the ball. Tailback Nick Brossette has carried 134 times for 640 yards, while tailback Clyde Edwards-Helaire has rushed 89 times for 475 yards. LSU has had three different leading rushers over its last three games — Edwards-Helaire against Georgia with 145 yards on 19 carries, Brossette at Florida with 95 on 15 carries and Burrow with 96 on nine carries.

Justin Jefferson is LSU's go-to wide receiver with 27 catches for 453 yards, but six others have at least seven catches.

"I think using the spread, spreading the ball around, figuring out who we are is what we're doing," Orgeron said. "It's combination of Joe being able to operate the offense the way Steve wants him to do it."

Ensminger would like for the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Burrow to run it a little more, but Orgeron keeps pulling him back.

"Joe's a big strong guy," Orgeron said. "He could play linebacker. You know if we were a zone-read team, Joe could be really good at it. But we just can't afford to get him hurt."

ORGERON NATIONAL COACH OF THE WEEK: LSU head football coach Ed Orgeron was named the Dodd Trophy National Coach of the Week by the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation.

The Dodd Trophy Coach of the Week award honors the football coach whose program embodies the award’s three pillars of scholarship, leadership and integrity, while also having success on the playing field during the previous week.

Orgeron's Tigers upset No. 2 Georgia, 36-16, on Saturday in Tiger Stadium as the Bulldogs surrendered season highs for total yards (475) and rushing yards (275). LSU's defense, meanwhile, held a Georgia offense that came into the game averaging 42 points and 485 total yards to season lows of 16 points and 322 total yards.

“Coach Orgeron and the Tigers have compiled one of the most impressive resumes to date of any team in the country,” said Jim Terry, chairman of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation. “This was a statement win, and LSU looks poised to be a true College Football Playoff contender this season.”

The late Bobby Dodd was Georgia Tech's coach from 1945-66 and is a member of the college football Hall of Fame.

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