LSU gave its Tiger Stadium crowd plenty of reasons to stick around well into the second half Saturday — both for better and for worse.
The Tigers’ defense was lights-out once again, critically so as Louisiana Tech was excellent on that side of the ball as well and took advantage of enough of its hosts’ miscues to remain squarely on their heels, down just a score late into the third quarter.
But touchdown-saving recovery and pass-breakup by safety Dashawn Spears (Denham Springs) on fourth down preserved the six-point edge, and quarterback Sam Leavitt and company capitalized on that spark with their most productive drive of the game to that point to begin distancing itself to the 45-14 victory.
“Really a tale of two different sides of the ball throughout most of the game,” LSU coach Lane Kiffin said. “We’ll start with the good: I thought our defense was lights-out. Again, I can’t imagine what the stats are, but when the first-team defense is out there now through two games, an amazing job. You end up negative yards rushing even with the 2’s, but the first-team was really lights-out. It’s almost like you felt like they were gonna get turnovers on every possession. So that was awesome. Really good job by them against an offense that put up 80 points last week.
“Offensively, the other side, obviously the turnovers in the red zone. You turn the ball over four times in the game, and then red zone to be down there 10 times, two times without scores, is really disappointing there. Credit to La Tech. Those guys did a really good job defensively of playing really hard.”
No. 8 LSU (2-0) clung to just a 10-7 lead at halftime despite holding the Bulldogs (1-1) to 0 yards of offense (20 passing and -20 rushing).
The Tigers turned their swarming, smothering defense and resulting positive starting field positions into a 10-0 lead on a 29-yard Scott Starzyk field goal and 5-yard Leavitt scramble to the end zone.
But four straight possessions of varying promise fizzled in the second quarter with a lost fumble and three interceptions, one of which Louisiana Tech safety Jordan McRae snatched at the goal line and housed 100 yards the other direction to pull his team within three points at the break.
“(Leavitt) is very competitive, and you can see that in some plays trying too much there, because we’re not doing well,” Kiffin said. “The week before he did a good job of not doing that. And you’ve gotta not be frustrated in that. I even said it half, I said we had at Ole Miss at Arkansas where (Matt) Corral threw six interceptions in a bunch of drop-eight and a bunch of zone. So I just reminded (offensive coordinator) Charlie (Weis Jr.), ‘Hey, you’ve gotta be patient, and we’ve gotta win the game no matter what that looks like.'”
Early in the third quarter, LSU showed a rare flash on the night of last week’s rushing success as Dilin Jones popped a 46-yarder down to the goal line.
The Tigers were forced to settle for a 25-yard Starzyk kick, and the Bulldogs’ defensive stand there and then heave to the opposite end zone seven plays later positioned the in-state underdogs to drastically crank up the drama in Baton Rouge.
On a fourth-and-5 from the LSU 40, speedy sophomore receiver Jalen Mickens blew by defenders and was cruising downfield freely.
But an under-thrown ball against pressure allowed Spears to recover, break up the pass, preserve the lead and avoid a potentially stadium-deflating moment.
The Tigers marched 60 yards the other way, highlighted by big plays by Trey’Dez Green (East Feliciana, Zachary) and Jones, and stretched the lead to 21-7 on scrambled by Leavitt 9 yards to the touchdown and then to buy time before finding tight end Malachi Thomas in the back of the end zone.
“He’s incredible,” Leavitt said of the asset Green provides when working through issues. “It’s man, and all you’ve got to do is throw Trey’Dez the ball. He had a great game tonight. Super proud of him, and he’s just a super reliable target. And I was actually really surprised that he wasn’t really going down. I kinda thought the play would be over, and then I’d hear the crowd start roaring again, and he’d be running down the field.”
Sophomore corner D.J. Pickett intercepted a pass two plays later and returned it 32 yards to the Louisiana Tech 11 to set up Starzyk’s third field goal.
Spears helped pressure the throw on the Pickett pick, and then wrapped up a sack on the Bulldogs’ next third down to force a punt and help LSU continue gaining second-half momentum.
A 53-yard heavy from Leavitt to Eugene “Tre” Wilson III highlighted a five-play, 73-yard drive, which Leavitt punctuated with a 5-yard run to push the advantage to 31-7 early in the fourth.
The defense provided yet another spark with a fumble forced by freshman defensive tackle Daverin “Deuce” Geralds II and recovered by redshirt freshman safety Jhase Thomas (Destrehan) that the Tigers converted into a 10-yard pass from Leavitt to Green.
“That’s been our emphasis all camp: strikes at the ball, strikes at the ball, strikes at the ball,” senior linebacker Whit Weeks said. “And then it pays off tonight… Three (fumbles), and it was a couple that we almost had, so that’s been a huge point of emphasis for us. So to see us go out there and play like that and get some fumbles, your work’s paying off.”
Louisiana Tech quarterback Blake Baker and Mickens finally connected for a 67-yard touchdown strike with 8:08 remaining.
But by then, the big play was too little too late for the Bulldogs’ upset hopes.
Five straight second-half scores — each set up by a takeaway, fourth-down stop or forced three-and-out — helped LSU turn two and a half quarters of concerns into a second straight blowout win to open its Kiffin era.
“I think defensively we just played a tremendous performance,” Louisiana Tech coach Sonny Cumbie said. “I think we got tired late. We did a great job of keeping their quarterback on his heels in terms of throwing a football. We knew he was going to make plays with his feet. He’s very dynamic and a really great runner. He hurt us a couple of times there. I think defensively we did a nice job of keeping him on his heels. We just didn’t play enough offense.
“I also think that the team we are going against is probably one of the best defenses that I’ve ever seen. They’re really fast. They’re big. They’re athletic. We had our opportunities early in the game and didn’t create much momentum as we would have liked to. Got to be better there with the long-range field goal. I told our kids that I was proud of the things that they did. We can focus on what we didn’t do as we watch the film and learn from it, but they played extremely hard for four quarters.”
Reserve quarterback Landen Clark put on the final garnish with a winding, dodging, field-reversing run through rushing Bulldogs to eventually find paydirt from 7 yards out.
The touchdown was the first in purple and gold for the Elon transfer, who also threw for a score in last week’s opener and debut.
The Tigers held the Bulldogs to just 140 total yards — 143 passing and -3 rushing — and eight first downs on 55 plays, including 3-for-14 on third downs, with late success helping pad the numbers.
Linebacker T.J. Dottery led the unit with nine tackles, including two forced fumbles, a quarterback hurry and 0.5 tackles for loss.
His fellow Ole Miss transfer, edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen, had three sacks and four tackles for loss, and Geralds added a sack and a hurry to his forced fumble among his highlights.
The unit recorded seven sacks in all with Spears and redshirt freshman C.J. Jimcoily each chipping in one and Jordan Ross and Malik Blocton splitting one.
Weeks added seven tackles, and the safety duo of Ty Benefield and Tamarcus Cooley played well overall, including a combined five stops and a Cooley fumble recovery.
“I think we know that we still have a lot more work to do if we want to be successful against the teams that are coming up on our schedule,” Weeks said. “We’ve got to make tackles, and we’ve got to make the plays when they’re given to us.”
LSU meanwhile eventually overcame its miscues to finish with 528 yards — 381 passing and 147 rushing — with 26 first downs on 85 plays, including 8-for-17 on third downs.
Leavitt completed 25 of his 38 passes for 344 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions and rushed 11 times for 22 yards.
Green led the receiving corps with 104 yards and his score on six catches, and Wilson had six catches for 93 yards.
Wide receiver Jackson Harris added 80 yards on three catches, and Jones finished with 66 rushing yards on 18 carries highlighted by his explosive play in the third quarter.
“We just stay composed,” Green said. “It’s football. You’re gonna have bad plays. It’s nothing too major. We came in at halftime, made the adjustments and came out executed the plays that the coaches called for us … We weren’t executing the plays that coach was calling for us, and we weren’t the team that we showed that first half. But I feel like we came out and we did better the second half.”
McRae and former Haynesville star Alonzo Jackson Jr. led the valiant effort by the Bulldogs’ defense that kept the Tigers in fits as long as it did.
Jackson had a game-high 12 tackles, including 3.5 for loss and three sacks, and broke up a pass, while McRae finished with 11 tackles, a forced fumble and the pick-six.
Another pair of in-state products Zheric Hill (Ruston) and Kam Franklin (Oak Grove) each intercepted a pass, and cornerback Janard Lockhardt recovered the fumble ripped free by McRae.
Safeties Ty Jones, Sam Fongang and Taeden Rogers chipped in at least eight tackles each, including two for loss by Fongang and one for loss and deflected pass by Rogers.
Mickens was the bright spot for the Bulldogs’ offense with six catches for 101 yards and the unit’s lone touchdown.
Baker finished 11-for-21 for 128 yards, a score and an interception, and Trey Kukuk completed three passes for 15 yards.
“When you think about the last week, it’s a completely different deal,” Cumbie said. “And you’re playing really hard; you’re straining, and you’re putting things on the field hard for four quarters. It’s a little bit different at the end, but our kids fought. They strained their bodies. They laid it on the line, and we just didn’t make enough plays from an offensive standpoint to keep us in the game. Also, it’s a credit to them. They’re a really good football team.”
