14th ranked LSU’s offense nearly had a perfect performance on Saturday night in a 72-10 win over Grambling State. It’s the first time the Tigers scored 70 points or more since the seven-overtime loss to Texas A&M in 2018 and the first time they scored 70 in regulation time of a game since a 70-14 win over Arkansas State in 1991.
Quarterback Jayden Daniels threw for a career-high five touchdown passes.
Coach Brian Kelly is pleased with what he saw on offense.
“To have ten straight possessions to score in this game when somebody doesn’t want you to score is really hard, you have to execute at a really high level that doesn’t happen very often,” said Kelly.
But the defense struggled early on. Grambling had 173 yards of offense in its first two possessions and scored ten points. For the night, Kelly’s defense gave up 320 total yards.
“Are there things we have to do better, absolutely and the competition picks up, I’m not going to leave here thinking we got this thing figured out,” said Kelly. “We got to tackle better.”
Harold Perkins Jr. was lined up again on the outside and had one tackle and one pass break-up which came on the first play of the game for the defense.
Cornerback Denver Harris got the start and the former five-star struggled giving up a touchdown and he was also called for a pass interference. On a positive, he was credited with a pass break up and he’s apparently been practicing better after not seeing the field in the season opener.
“If you are committed to it we are going to work with you. It’s guys who are not committed to it, guys that don’t want to do the little things the right way, we are going to let you figure it out, we are going let you figure it out watching, he tried that and he didn’t like watching,” said Kelly.
Kelly promised more playing time for receiver Chris Hilton and he caught two passes for 53 yards including a 47-yard touchdown catch where he burned the defense on a post pattern.
“He’s got to catch the ball consistently and that’s where he’s making the biggest strides, he had a great week of practice, he was not feeling well, he was actually sick this week,” said Kelly.
After the loss to FSU you were hoping to see LSU run the ball. A healthy Logan Diggs showed he can be the top back. Diggs has 115 yards rushing and a touchdown and looked strong. Freshman Kaleb Jackson also had a good night, 62 yards on 11 carries.
Also, freshman right tackle Lance Heard got playing time in the second series and there’s a chance we could see more of Heard this Saturday in Starkville against Mississippi State.
State has one of the very few non-conference wins for the SEC against Power Five opponents this season. The Bulldogs on Saturday night beat Arizona in overtime 31-24.
Mississippi State forced five turnovers. Arizona outgained State 431-307 in the win. Bulldogs quarterback Will Rogers was 13-of-17 for 162 yards and three touchdowns. MSU is not the air-raid offense as it was under the late Mike Leach.
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