Athletes can show incredible toughness when playing on the word's biggest stages. Michael Jordan's flu game in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals is a prime example of that, as is Curt Schilling's bloody sock game in Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS.
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Football players often times play through injury over the course of the season. That's just the nature of playing a violent and dangerous sport that comes with the grind of a 16-game schedule. NCAA football is no exception to that either.
During the LSU Tigers' 42-25 win over the Clemson Tigers in the College Football Playoff national championship game in New Orleans, LSU quarterback Joe Burrow apparently suffered an injury before the second half of the game.
Burrow went on the Pardon My Take podcast and said he suffered torn rib cartilage following a massive hit from Clemson linebacker James Skalski near the end of the second quarter.
"It's overcoming my violent hangover right now. I'm getting pretty old," Burrow said on the podcast via Yahoo Sports. "I tore some cartilage in my ribs."
Joe Burrow's Injury in CFP Title Game
Joe Burrow could be dealing with a broken rib... 😱#NationalChampionship pic.twitter.com/MOSN1Ee2ya
— SMH (@BigSE5) January 14, 2020
ESPN's Holly Rowe originally reported during the game that LSU QB Joe Burrow wondered if he broke a rib after he was "gasping for air" prior to halftime. A torn rib and a broken rib both sound painful, but it appears the Heisman Trophy winner's pain after the first half wasn't going to keep him on the sideline.
Skalski, the linebacker who laid the hit on Burrow, was later ejected from the game for targeting.
Burrow showed no effects of a rib injury. He completed 31 of 49 passes for 463 yards and five touchdowns. The former Ohio State Buckeyes signal caller celebrated the national title game win in some pretty epic ways, including smoking a cigar and collecting some cash from Odell Beckham Jr.
Burrow cemented himself as a Louisiana legend this season for LSU football. He threw more touchdown passes in a single season than anyone in college football history. The only thing missing was his own version of a flu game, even if he told reporters after the game that he was fine.
The LSU quarterback checked off every to-do list item this past season. All that's left is to become the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Don't think some torn rib cartilage is going to get in the way of Joe Burrow.
