They may be teammates with the Cleveland Browns these days, but long before bringing one-handed grabs and electric after-the-catch runs to the NFL, former LSU Tigers teammates Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry were one of the greatest receiving duos in college football history. Together, they caught 280 passes for over 4,000 yards and scored 27 touchdowns playing together for three seasons in Baton Rouge. Each had stellar games while the other received added attention, but neither could be stopped on September 28, 2013.
With the Les Miles era (unknowingly) beginning to fade, the Tigers traveled to Athens for a top-10 clash with the Georgia Bulldogs. Mark Richt's team already dropped a season-opening game on the road against Clemson and needed a marquee win to put them back in the national picture. When LSU came to town, these two teams treated fans to some serious star power, fireworks all day long, and 85 combined points in a Southeastern Conference thriller at Sanford Stadium.
For all their accolades, Landry and Beckham both surpassed 100 receiving yards in the same game only twice. One of them was the 2013 season opener against TCU, and the other came on this day in late September.
Landry — named second-team All-SEC in 2013 — led all players with 10 catches for 156 yards and a touchdown. Not to be outdone, Beckham would add six catches for 118 yards. Plus, the 2013 All-American returned seven kickoffs for 175 yards for a mind-boggling 449 total yards between the pair of wide receivers.
On a day where quarterback Zach Mettenberger threw for a career-high 372 yards, the game would swing back and forth until the very end when Georgia's Aaron Murray led his team on a game-winning drive to steal a 44-41 win at home.
2013: LSU Tigers vs. Georgia Bulldogs
The matchup may have ended in the Dawgs' favor, but it was LSU who ended the 2013 season with the last laugh.
Georgia would lose to Missouri, Vanderbilt, and Auburn, then they dropped the Gator Bowl against Nebraska to finish unranked with an 8-5 record. Meanwhile, LSU would finish with a 10-3 record, which was the fourth-straight year with at least 10 wins. It was last 10-win season under Les Miles before he was replaced by Ed Orgeron as head coach just three years later.
Both Beckham (12th overall in the 2014 NFL Draft) and Landry (63rd overall) have gone on to multiple Pro Bowls with the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins, respectively. Now that they're both together with Baker Mayfield in Cleveland, expect to see this dynamic duo light up the NFL just like they did wearing the purple and gold at LSU.
This article was originally published March 29, 2019.
