NEW ORLEANS — Clemson safety Tanner Muse called LSU quarterback Joe Burrow a “different breed.” Coach Dabo Swinney described him as “special.” Defensive coordinator Brent Venables couldn’t find a weakness in LSU’s top-ranked scoring attack.

Suffice it to say, the past two weeks haven’t been a lot of fun for the defending national champions. Watching film can be monotonous, especially when there is such a long stretch — 16 days — between games. But having to prepare for LSU by reliving its dominance must be worse.

“As a coach, it makes you sick watching the tape because he just rarely ever makes a mistake,” Swinney said of Burrow, the Heisman Trophy winner. “He’s always a step ahead.”

Burrow enters the national championship game having thrown 55 touchdown passes, completing an NCAA-record 77.6 percent of his passes with just six interceptions. He obliterated Oklahoma in the Peach Bowl, throwing a playoff-record seven touchdown passes. LSU averaged 48.9 points per game, scoring at least 42 points 11 times in 14 games. It produced two 1,000-yard receivers, Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase, a 1,300-yard rusher, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, and the offensive line won the Joe Moore Award, given to the best offensive front in the country.

“They have answers to everything,” Venables said. “If you’re going to defend them, you’re not going to trick them. You’re going to out-execute them.

“Whether it’s pressure, knowing where the hot [reads] are. You play inside leverage, they get you outside. Play outside leverage, they get you inside. You play man, they [run] rub routes. You play zone, he knows where the holes are.”

Of course, Clemson has been here before, an underdog in the national championship game, facing a dynamic offense few thought it could stop. That was the case last year, when Swinney’s team routed undefeated Alabama in the title game. That defense was different, however. This group’s strength isn’t the defensive line, after Christian Wilkins, Dexter Lawrence, Austin Bryant and Clelin Ferrell all went pro.

Clemson is at its best at linebacker — Butkus Award winner Isaiah Simmons leads the team in sacks with six — and in the secondary, where Muse anchors the quality unit.

“They’re the most efficient offense, but we’re the most efficient defense,” Simmons said.

The one team that did slow LSU down was Auburn, which lost 23-20 on Oct. 26. Auburn was able to pressure Burrow, sacking him three times. Clemson doesn’t have the same talent up front, but still had the No. 1 scoring defense in the country (11.5) and was second in yards allowed per game (264.1), even if most of the numbers came against weak ACC competition. Clemson held Ohio State to a season-low 23 points in the Fiesta Bowl, keeping itself in the game by forcing three field goals in the first half before quarterback Trevor Lawrence was able to rally his team to victory.

Now comes an even greater test — the best offensive in the country led by Burrow, the Heisman Trophy winner.

“You see it every day on ESPN or Fox Sports or whatever else of how great they are,” Muse said. “So we know how great they are, everybody else knows how great they are, so we’re going to see how great they are.”