LSU defeats South Alabama 42-10; Nussmeier sets career high in passing yards

BATON ROUGE – LSU defeated the South Alabama Jaguars 42-10 on Saturday. Tigers head coach Brian Kelly said his team needed to start the game fast, and they did that.

It was the “Garrett Nussmeier and Caden Durham Show” on Saturday night.

LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier set a career-high 409 passing yards and also had four touchdowns, including two on the ground and through the air.

First-year running back Caden Durham had 128 yards rushing and 89 yards receiving. He was responsible for two Tigers touchdowns.

On LSU’s first drive, Nussmeier found Durham for a 71-yard touchdown pass that gave the Tigers an early lead.

On the Tigers’ next possession, Durham took the handoff for an 86-yard rush on the first play of the drive and Nussmeier hit it into the end zone for a 1-yard rushing touchdown on the following play.

LSU followed with a 79-yard drive capped by another Durham touchdown on an 8-yard rush.

South Alabama got the game started with a 49-yard field goal early in the second quarter, cutting the lead to 18 points.

Nussmeier responded by leading the Tigers with another scoring drive and securing his second rushing touchdown of the night with a five-yard run.

The scoring didn’t end there for the Tigers, as Nussmeier connected with wide receiver Aaron Anderson down the middle of the field for a 23-yard touchdown, extending LSU’s lead to 32 points at halftime.

South Alabama came out of halftime with a passing touchdown to extend the Tigers’ lead. The Jaguars managed to drive the ball back inside the LSU 5-yard line, but on 4th-and-goal, Tigers linebacker Whit Weeks and safety Major Burns intercepted Jaguars quarterback Gio Lopez at the 1- Yard line in a rush attempt to keep South Alabama out of the end zone.

The Tigers capitalized by driving 99 yards in 12 plays for another touchdown. Running back Josh Williams found a hole for a 4-yard touchdown, putting LSU back up by 32 points.

The Tigers are 4-1 this season. South Alabama falls to 2-3. LSU has an open date on Saturday, October 5th before hosting the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday, October 12th.