LSU 42-10 South Alabama (September 28, 2024) Game Recap

BATON ROUGE, La. — — Garrett Nussmeier threw for a career-high 409 yards, Caden Durham had 217 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns and No. 14 LSU posted a season-high 667 yards on offense in a 42-10 win over South Alabama on Saturday night.

Durham took a swing pass from Nussmeier 71 yards for a touchdown on the game's first offensive play, broke free for an 86-yard run to the 1-yard line and scored on an 8-yard run as LSU ( 4:1) built a 21:0 lead in the first quarter.

Nussmeier had a 1-yard touchdown in the first and a 5-yard touchdown in the second before throwing a 23-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Anderson that gave LSU a 35-3 halftime lead.

“(Offensive coordinator) Joe Sloan always tells us to start fast,” Nussmeier said. “I don’t know if we thought we were going to get off to a quick start, but Caden made two great plays.”

Nussmeier completed 26 of 39 passes while Durham, a freshman, totaled 128 rushing yards and 89 receiving yards on 10 total touches. Kyren Lacy caught five passes for 107 yards, while 11 different LSU players recorded at least one reception.

“Obviously we did some great things offensively tonight,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said. “Over 660 yards of total offense. Characterize it however you want, but Nussmeier, the receivers, Durham – all of those guys were top performers tonight.”

LSU played its first game since losing preseason All-American linebacker Harold Perkins to a knee injury this season and got big hits from two other linebackers. Greg Penn had 14 tackles and Whit Weeks had nine in the Tigers' win.

South Alabama (2-3) got on the scoreboard early in the second quarter on a 49-yard field goal from Laith Marjan, cutting the deficit to 21-3. The Jaguars' only touchdown of the night came on their first possession of the third quarter when Gio Lopez hit Anthony Eager for a 27-yard touchdown.

Lopez finished 16 of 22 for 171 yards with 33 yards on the ground. Eager had four catches for 91 yards.

“Other than that one drive in the third quarter, I thought we did some good things defensively tonight,” Kelly said. “We need to tighten up some things here and there, but (South Alabama) is a top 15 offense in the country. We’ve gotten better in the last five weeks.”

Impact on the survey

With No. 2 Georgia and No. 6 Ole Miss both losing on Saturday, No. 14 LSU could make a small climb into the AP Top 25 next week.

The takeaway food

LSU struggled to get off to an impressive start in the first four games of the season, but exploded early and put the game out of reach in the first half. The Tigers outgained South Alabama by over 300 yards and averaged 13 yards per play in the first half.

Next

LSU: After an off week, Ole Miss will host on October 12th.

South Alabama: Travel to Arkansas State on Saturday.

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