The Louisiana Tech defense took it to No. 3 LSU for most of the game, but the Tigers’ dominant defense was the difference in LSU’s 23-7 victory Saturday night in Tiger Stadium.
The Tigers improved to 2-0. The Bulldogs dropped to 1-1.
Tech had just four first downs and 71 total yards in the first half. They finished with 154, 96 passing and 58 rushing.
The Bulldogs avoided a shutout on backup quarterback Blake Baker’s 33-yard touchdown pass to Devin Gandy with 4:02 left in the game.
Tech starter Trey Kukuk completed 12-of-18 passes for just 50 yards. Baker was 3-of-8 for 46.
In his postgame press conference, Tech Head Coach Sonny Cumbie said Kukuk got food poisoning Friday.
The running game was virtually nonexistent.
“I think that our execution offensively was not where it needs to be for us to be able to win a conference championship and I know that we’ll get that fixed,” Cumbie said.
But the story of the game was really the play of the Bulldogs defense against an offense expected to put a lot of points on the board.
“They’re going to make it hard for you, but I think defensively, I was really proud of how our kids played,” Cumbie said. “They had to earn everything up and down the field.
“To be honest when you have the ball on the two-yard line and you’re an SEC offense and you kick a field goal at the end of the game, I think it’s kind of the tip of the cap from the standpoint of what they think of our defense. I don’t know if that’s true or not. My thought process on it, I think that our guys played really well on defense.”
Cumbie said the goal going in was to put pressure on quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, a Heisman frontrunner.
The Bulldogs did just that, forcing him out of the pocket on several occasions and sacking him twice.
Nussmeier completed 26-of-41 passes for 237 yards and one touchdown with one interception.
Barion Brown, who received the game ball from Head Coach Brian Kelly, led LSU with eight catches for 94 yards. Aaron Anderson had eight for 73.
The Tigers rushed for 128 yards. Freshman Harlem Berry led the team with 56 on six carries thanks to a late 43-yard run.
Zavion Thomas had a 48-yard run. He had just six yards on his five other carries.
The Bulldogs held Caden Durham to just 29 yards on 13 carries.
Kelly didn’t hide his disappointment in the way his team played in his postgame press conference.
“Look, we’re happy with the win but we’re not happy with the production across the board. We’ve got to coach better. That’s the bottom line.
“Tonight we didn’t coach well enough. We got outcoached in a lot of different areas. Hats off to Coach Cumbie and his staff at LA Tech. They did a great job tonight.
“You’ve got to run the football. We didn’t run the football effectively tonight. And it made it difficult for us. We didn’t make great decisions.
“So players got to make plays. Coaches got to coach better. You can tell by my voice I’m not happy with the performance. But it’s a win.
“So you always have to measure this by the outcome in this instance was what we wanted. It’s certainly not the way we wanted to get there. So we’ve got a lot of work to do. And we’ll get back to work Monday and work to get better.”
Tech punter John Hoyet Chance, a former Captain Shreve star, pinned LSU inside the 10 three times in the first half and four overall.
The Tigers drove 98 yards on 11 plays for their first touchdown, a 2-yard run by Durham.
LSU drove from its 9 to a first down at the Tech 7. But the Bulldogs forced the Tigers to settle for a 23-yard Damian Ramos field goal.
LSU finally got a little breathing room in the third quarter. On fourth-and-13 at the Tech 8, Chance punted for 25 yards.
It took the Tigers six plays to go the 33 yards. Durham scored on a 3-yard run and LSU led 17-0 with 1:58 left in the third quarter.
The Tech defense never stopped being aggressive. Kolbe Fields dropped Zavion Thomas for a 5-yard loss and Mekhi Mason followed with a sack. Ramos made a 46-yard field goal to put the Tigers up 20-0.
LSU added a late 19-yard Ramos field goal. That came after the Tigers failed to score on three inside runs after having first-and-goal at the 3.
Louisiana Tech opens Conference USA play Saturday at home against New Mexico State (2-0).
LSU opens SEC play Saturday at home against Florida (1-1). The Gators will be coming into Tiger Stadium off an 18-16 upset loss to South Florida.