EYE ON THE TITLE: Former LSU QBs Flynn, Mauck believe Burrow has blue-chip to win National Championship

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - "If it was easy, anybody would do it," Matt Mauck explains.

"You feel when you wear that helmet that you're playing for the entire state, right," says Matt Flynn.

Great expectations, bear pressure felt heaviest under center.

"Everybody has to listen to you. You're the only person on the field that touches the ball every single play. Just by nature of the position, you're a leader," Flynn explains.

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Since the turn of the century, just two quarterbacks have led the Tigers to a national championship: 2007′s Matt Flynn, And 2003′s Matt Mauck.

Once teammates, they'd tell you the ingredients for a championship quarterback haven't changed.

"If a QB can show that and your teammates know that there's nothing that's going to scare you and you're not afraid to take a hit, stick your nose in there. They'll go to battle for you," Mauck says.

"You take a hit and you talk a little bit to the other team. That helps. If guys see that from their quarterback, they want to play a little bit harder," Flynn says.

Sound familiar?

"Games are just a highlight of how hard you've worked and how well you've practiced. For the big game, I went out and did extra drops and threw extra with the receivers. I took my nerves out through hard work. Speaking with Joe I think he kind of does a similar thing," Mauck explains.

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On Monday, Jan. 13, Joe Burrow can join an elite group: Flynn, Mauck, and 1958 LSU quarterback Warren Rabb.

"You kind of have something in common that very few of us are able to share," Mauck says.

“There is that fraternity and I expect that we’ll have a fourth,” Flynn adds.

But each would tell you Joe is the best to wear purple and gold.

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“People called me and said, ‘Hey I saw Joe is going to break your record,’ I go 'It’s game 5, he’s going to shatter my record, not break my record,” Mauck says.

"If you want to be really good, you gotta walk the line between confident and cocky, and he does that and he backs it up," Flynn explains.

And what Joe has done has been remarkable.

People close to him would tell you it's a product of preparation and toughness.

Characteristics the last two champion quarterbacks saw in each other and now see in Burrow and the team he leads.

“We were very stubborn. We never thought that we would lose. We never expected to lose. It never even crossed our minds that losing was a possibility. That is what I see a lot of in this team,” Flynn says.