“We Gonna Win It All”: How Ed Orgeron’s Private Conversation with Joe Burrow Sparked One of College Football’s Greatest Seasons

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It was late one humid Louisiana night in the spring of 2019. Inside the LSU Football Operations Building, with the fluorescent lights dimmed and the buzz of Baton Rouge fading into the background, two men sat across from each other in Ed Orgeron’s office.

One, a gravel-voiced Cajun legend known for his fiery passion and unconventional rise through the college football ranks. The other, a quiet, steely-eyed quarterback from Athens, Ohio, who’d been told more than once that he wasn’t good enough to start in the SEC.

This was the moment everything changed.

“I remember looking Joe in the eye,” Orgeron recalled years later. “And I told him, ‘Son, I believe in you. We gonna win it all. You just wait.’”

That intimate exchange — rarely discussed at the time — would come to define a partnership that rewrote college football history. The 2019 LSU Tigers didn’t just win. They dominated. They didn’t just rise. They exploded onto the national scene like a cultural phenomenon.

And it all began with belief — a private moment between a coach and quarterback who saw something in each other no one else quite did.

The Road to That Office

Joe Burrow arrived in Baton Rouge in 2018 with little fanfare. After three years buried on the depth chart at Ohio State, he transferred to LSU with two years of eligibility remaining. He wasn’t the most heralded transfer. He wasn’t even guaranteed the starting job.

LSU, for its part, had just fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada and was struggling to establish an offensive identity. For years, the Tigers had leaned on defense and power running. Their passing game ranked near the bottom of the SEC year after year.

Orgeron, newly promoted to full-time head coach after taking over for Les Miles in 2016, knew something had to change. He’d seen enough 10–7 games. He wanted firepower.

Enter Joe Burrow — a quarterback with a chip on his shoulder and a mind for the game.

“Joe walked into that building with something to prove,” said Ja’Marr Chase. “You could feel it in everything he did. Quiet, but cold.”

His 2018 campaign was a mixed bag. He showed flashes, threw for over 2,800 yards and 16 touchdowns, and led LSU to a 10-win season — including a wild seven-overtime win over Texas A&M and a Peach Bowl beatdown of UCF.

But it wasn’t enough. Not for Burrow. Not for Orgeron.

That offseason, Burrow asked for more control. He asked for a system that would let him read defenses, audible, go up-tempo, and attack vertically.

And that led to the conversation.

Inside the Conversation That Changed Everything

According to multiple sources inside the program, the now-legendary conversation between Orgeron and Burrow wasn’t even planned. It happened organically during an offseason film session.

Burrow was frustrated. Not with his coaches — but with the offense. He believed they could be so much more.

“I want to throw it 40 times a game,” Burrow reportedly said.

Orgeron didn’t blink.

“Then we gonna do it,” he replied.

The conversation pivoted from Xs and Os to expectations. To belief.

Orgeron leaned forward in his chair, thick forearms resting on his knees, and stared straight at his quarterback.

“Joe, you keep doing what you’re doing — you keep leading like that — and I swear, we gonna win the whole damn thing.”

For the first time, Burrow cracked a rare smile.

“Then let’s do it,” he said.

Revolution: The Arrival of Joe Brady

Following that meeting, Orgeron acted quickly. He hired Joe Brady, a young offensive assistant from the New Orleans Saints who brought with him a cutting-edge passing attack inspired by Sean Payton’s playbook. Orgeron didn’t just give Brady a clipboard — he gave him the keys.

Brady teamed with OC Steve Ensminger to craft a no-huddle, spread-based system designed specifically for Burrow’s mind and skillset. They weaponized LSU’s ridiculous talent at receiver — Chase, Justin Jefferson, Terrace Marshall Jr. — and put Clyde Edwards-Helaire in space.

And just like that, LSU football went from prehistoric to revolutionary.

“We were running Saints concepts at college speed,” said Brady. “And Joe? Joe was running it like Drew Brees.”

The Season of Dreams

From the first whistle of the 2019 season, it was clear this was different.

In a marquee Week 2 win over Texas in Austin, Burrow threw for 471 yards and four touchdowns — including a game-clinching, third-and-long laser to Jefferson with blitzing defenders in his face.

That throw became the stuff of legend. Orgeron’s famous postgame quote — “They said we couldn’t throw. Well, now we can” — reverberated across college football.

But the best was yet to come.

• LSU beat Florida by two touchdowns.
• They beat Auburn in a grind-it-out defensive battle.
• Then came Alabama in Tuscaloosa — and the night Burrow became a Tiger immortal.

“We’re Back”: The Alabama Breakthrough

LSU hadn’t beaten Alabama since 2011. The Crimson Tide had become LSU’s white whale, Nick Saban its tormentor.

But on November 9, 2019, Burrow went 31-for-39 for 393 yards and three touchdowns. He played like a man possessed, outdueling Tua Tagovailoa and silencing Bryant-Denny Stadium.

After the game, Burrow walked off the field with his helmet raised and his finger in the air. A single chant echoed through Tiger Nation:

“Heisman. Heisman. Heisman.”

Orgeron was seen yelling “Roll Tide what?!” in the locker room — a quote that quickly went viral.

The Hardware and the Highlights

LSU finished the regular season undefeated and annihilated Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.

Burrow won the Heisman Trophy in a landslide — with the largest margin in the award’s history. His emotional speech thanked LSU, Coach O, his teammates, and his hometown of Athens, Ohio.

“Coach O, you took a chance on me when no one else would,” Burrow said. “I hope I made you proud.”

He had. In every way.

LSU entered the College Football Playoff as the No. 1 seed and proceeded to:

• Beat Oklahoma 63–28 in the semifinal (Burrow: 8 total TDs).
• Beat Clemson 42–25 in the National Championship.

In front of a roaring crowd in New Orleans, in their home state, the LSU Tigers capped a perfect 15–0 season.

Legacy of the Conversation

It’s tempting to reduce the 2019 LSU Tigers to a series of stats. And those stats are staggering:

• Joe Burrow: 5,671 yards, 60 TDs, 76.3% completion.
• Ja’Marr Chase & Justin Jefferson: 38 combined TD catches.
• Average Margin of Victory: 26 points.

But the real magic was in the chemistry, in the belief forged in that quiet office between a quarterback and a coach who had both been told they weren’t good enough.

Burrow had been doubted. Orgeron had been mocked. Both had been dismissed as backups and stopgaps. But together, they formed a bond of mutual respect and mutual fire.

That conversation wasn’t just motivational — it was transformational.

“That moment,” said Orgeron, “was when I knew Joe was special. Not just as a player, but as a leader. And I wasn’t gonna let him down.”

Aftermath: Forever Changed

• Joe Burrow went on to become the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and led the Cincinnati Bengals to the Super Bowl in just his second full season.
• Ed Orgeron became a Louisiana legend, delivering LSU its first national title since 2007.
• Joe Brady became one of the NFL’s hottest coaching prospects.

Even in retrospect, the 2019 LSU team is widely considered one of — if not the — greatest college football teams of all time.

So many championships are won with schemes and stars.

But some — the best ones — are born out of something more intangible. A quiet moment. A shared belief. A coach saying, “You’re my guy,” and a quarterback answering, “Let’s ride.”

That’s what happened inside that office in Baton Rouge. And from it grew an unbreakable bond — and the greatest season the sport has ever seen.

Because Coach O believed. And Joe Burrow delivered.