By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
No. 11 LSU enjoyed this one while it lasted and, more importantly, suffered no injuries.
The Tigers (4-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) basically spent an Indian Summer Saturday night at the beach by kicking sand in the helmets of McNeese State for a 63-14 victory Saturday night at Tiger Stadium.
-LSU put up 732 total yards – just 16 yards away from breaking the school record for yards in a game. That was 746 yards in a 77-0 win over Rice on Sept. 24, 1977.
-The Tigers scored 63 points for the first time since a 63-7 win over Purdue in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 4, 2023.
-LSU’s 39 first downs were the most in school history. That’s the second time new LSU coach Lane Kiffin broke that first downs record as his Tigers had 37 in the 51-10 win over Clemson in the season opener.
-And the Tigers’ 101 plays was also a school milestone
“I don’t care about milestones,” Kiffin said. “We’ll break all these. It means a lot of players are doing really well.”
Quarterback Sam Leavitt started and played the entire first half after nursing a hamstring injury all week. He completed 18 of 23 passes for 176 yards and three touchdowns. Landen Clark replaced Leavitt in the third quarter, and Husan Longstreet also played quarterback.
True freshman Corey Barker Jr. led the receivers with seven catches for 83 yards and two touchdowns.
Leavitt stayed in the pocket every time he dropped back to protect the hamstring and usually threw quickly.
“He was a lot better than he was last week, but he was still limited,” Kiffin said. “What we were calling were pretty safe plays. We were calling certain plays and protections to make sure he wasn’t going to get hit.”
Asked if Leavitt was under orders not to scramble, Kiffin said, “He’s not running around really great, so I don’t think he was going to scramble.”
The Tigers put up 367 rushing yards on 53 carries and two 100-yard rushers as Harlem Berry gained 125 on 15 carries with a touchdown and Stacy Gage gained 110 on just six rushes for an average of 18.3 yards. He scored touchdowns in the fourth quarter on runs of 46 and 39 yards.
Defensive tackle Deuce Geralds also scored on a 1-yard run for a 42-0 lead early in the third quarter after the Tigers took a 35-0 halftime lead.
“I did that in high school,” said Geralds, a true freshman from Suwanee, Georgia. “It was nothing new to me, but doing it in Tiger Stadium – that’s different right there. “I’m going to cherish that for the rest of my life.”
But what’s up next for LSU is five ranked teams out of seven. It starts next Saturday as the Tigers play at No. 24 Kentucky (4-1, 2-1 SEC), which will be coming off a 35-34 overtime win over South Carolina on Saturday.
Then it will be No. 16 Mississippi State (4-1, 2-1 SEC) at home on Oct. 17. The Bulldogs fell to No. 7 Alabama, 56-23, on Saturday.
After a road trip to Auburn (3-2, 1-2 SEC) on Oct. 25 and an open date, it will be LSU’s toughest stretch of the season – No. 7 Alabama (5-0, 3-0 SEC) and No. 1 Texas (4-0, 1-0 SEC) at home on Nov. 7 and 14 before a trip to No. 21 Tennessee (4-1, 1-1 SEC) on Nov. 21. Texas was open Saturday, while Tennessee defeated Auburn, 24-14.
The regular season finale will be on Nov. 28 at Arkansas (2-3, 0-2 SEC), which fell 34-7 to Texas A&M on Saturday.
Before too many games go by, LSU expects back starting tight end Trey’Dez Green (knee), who has been out since the Ole Miss game on Sept. 19.
LSU does not have a quality win yet with victories over the likes of Clemson, Louisiana Tech, Texas A&M and McNeese State, but it continued to display quality throughout its roster and look excellent against bad teams on Saturday.
McNeese State (2-4, 1-2 Southland Conference) did beat the 52-point spread.
“We didn’t have any major injuries for the first time,” Kiffin said. “That was really big. We obviously pulled people early. A lot of guys got to play. It was good to see a lot of guys make plays. I know you’re supposed to win these games big, but that doesn’t always happen.”
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