After other inferior opponents managed to stay close with LSU early on, South Alabama was looking to do the same thing and make the game more competitive than expected.
It took all of one play to throw that notion out the window.
On the very first play from scrimmage, Caden Durham scampered 71 yards to the end zone to give LSU an instant 7-0 lead, and the Tigers cruised from there, beating the Jaguars, 42-10.
“We were expecting three deep and kind of that configuration,” Coach Brian Kelly said of South Alabama’s defense on that opening play, “so I thought (offensive coordinator) Joe Sloan did a great job of play-calling in that situation to get him out, because that was a play we hadn’t run before.”
In fact, Durham nearly had a second touchdown in as many touches of the ball on LSU’s very next offensive play, but he was stopped at the 1 yard line.
Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier punched it in on the next play to put LSU up 14-0.
It was the first of two rushing touchdowns for Nussmeier to go along with his two touchdown passes and a career-long 409 yards passing.
“I think that’s the first time in my like that I’ve ever had two rushing touchdowns in a game,” said Nussmeier. “It’s a cool feeling.”
Durham did get his second touchdown run late in the first quarter on an 8-yard run to put LSU up 21-0.
South Alabama’s lone touchdown came in the third quarter on an Anthony Eager 27-yard touchdown catch from Gio Lopez that got the Jaguars to within 35-10.
Coach Kelly was pleased with his team’s effort.
“Clearly, offensively, we did some great things tonight — running the football and throwing it over 667 (combined) yards,” said Kelly. “Bottom line is we’ve gotten better over the last five weeks, and that’s what we needed to be going into this off week as we get ready for an SEC schedule.”
That SEC schedule gets underway in earnest on October 12th against Ole Miss in Death Valley.
On the defensive side, Greg Penn III led the team with 14 tackles, including 7 solo tackles.
“He (Kelly) was saying, ‘everyone’s going to be talking about this game for like two weeks, so make sure it’s a good one.’ So we went out there and just tried to put on a good show,” said Penn.
Whit Weeks, playing for an injured Harold Perkins Jr., added 9 tackles, including 4 solo.
About the only negative for LSU during the game was the fact that Nussmeier threw two interceptions.
“Those are plays that he knows better,” said Kelly of Nussmeier’s second interception. “You’re moving to the right. You have better options there. I think he probably got caught up a little bit in the game in that situation. It was late (and) we were up pretty big.”
Kelly spoke with Nussmeier immediately after that second interception.
“It was just a normal conversation between a coach and a player that should happen,” Nussmeier said. “He expects a lot of me, and that’s how I would want it to be. The worst thing I would want is to throw an interception, come up on the sideline and nobody says anything to me. That would mean no one has belief in me to not do what I did.”
