First-Half Dominance Lifts Tigers to 30-14 Victory
11/10/01



BATON ROUGE -- In front of 88,249 on Homecoming in Tiger Stadium, quarterback Rohan Davey passed for 318 yards and LSU scored on its first four possessions to defeat Middle Tennessee, 30-14, on Saturday night.

LSU improved to 6-3 on the season and became bowl eligible. Middle Tennessee State lost its second straight and fell to 7-3 overall.

Davey finished 26-of-37 passing with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Blue Raider quarterback Wes Counts led the attack, passing for 195 yards on 21-of-29 attempts and two touchdowns.

LaBrandon Toefield carried the load on the ground for LSU, rushing 22 times for 83 yards and two touchdowns, while Dwone Hicks carried 16 times for 116 yards for Middle Tennessee.

For the first time this season, LSU won the toss and elected to take the ball against the maligned Blue Raider defense that ranks 76th in the nation in total defense.

Davey connected to Jerel Myers for 8 and 12 yards on back-to-back plays after the Tigers were faced with second-and-19 deep in their own territory. After the first down, Davey marched the team down the field with seven straight completions to five different receivers for 72 yards before LaBrandon Toefield weaved six yards through the right side of the line for his 14th touchdown of the season. However, placekicker John Corbello missed the point after touchdown and LSU led 6-0.

The 12-play, 80-yard drive consumed 5:51.

With 6:55 to play in the first quarter, Howard Green knocked the ball out of Blue Raider running back Avery Hatten's hands at midfield to give the Tigers possession. On the second play of the ensuing drive, running back Domanick Davis darted through into the Middle Tennessee backfield and bulldozed past three defensive backs for 37 yards down to the Blue Raider 7-yard line.

Two plays later, Davey connected with Michael Clayton at the goalline for a 7-yard touchdown. LSU led 13-0 after the successful PAT.

Middle Tennessee took over at their own 18 and marched down the field led by elusive quarterback Wes Counts. On first-and-10 from the LSU 23, backup running back Rashard Lee lined up at the quarterback position and ran for 18 yards around the left side to set up a 5-yard pass from a scrambling Counts to Tyrone Calico. Brian Kelly tacked on the PAT after the 11-play, 82-yard drive that took 4:02 off the clock. The lead was cut to 13-7.

For the third drive in a row to start the game, the LSU offense seemed unstoppable as Davey continued to pick apart the Blue Raider secondary. Davey hooked up with Reed for 8 and 21 yards before connecting with Myers for the fourth time for 9-yards to the Middle Tennessee 20. On first-and-10 from the 20, Reed took another offering from Davey, broke a tackle and ran to the 5. With the reception, Reed broke Wendell Davis' single-season receiving yards record with 1,245.

Two plays later, Toefield ran around the right side for a 2-yard touchdown, his second of the contest and his 15th of the season to tie Kevin Faulk (1997) for second place on LSU's single-season touchdown list. LSU led 20-7 with 12:10 remaining in the first half.

The LSU defense stopped the Blue Raiders on five plays and the Tiger offense took over at the 20.

Davey completed 5-of-6 passes for 77 yards, culminated by a perfectly executed fly route and pass by Davis out of the Tiger backfield from Davey. The 25-yard touchdown pass was Davey's second of the game and Davis' first receiving in his three-year career. LSU led 27-7 after the nine-play, 80-yard drive that lasted 4:21.

On the final play of the half, Corbello came up 2 yards short of what would have been a school-record-tying 54-yard field goal. LSU led 27-7 at the half.

At halftime, Darrell Broussard (ISDS/Mass Communications) and Melanie Hebert (Mass Communications) were named the Homecoming king and queen.

On LSU's first drive of the second half, LSU was forced to punt for the first time after a pair of incompletions. Jones punted 38 yards to the 7-yardline.

The third quarter was punt-packed, as the teams combined for four of them. LSU put the only points on the board, a 42-yard shot by Corbello with 1:45 remaining in the quarter.

Middle Tennessee scored its second touchdown of the game with 5:22 remaining in the game on a 6-yard pass from Counts to Hicks.