Tigers pounce quickly for season-opening win
By CARL DUBOIS
Advocate sportswriter
The LSU football team didn't need the thin air of Utah to play mile-high over Tulane. Before evening turned into a purple-and-gold Saturday night in the thick, gray humidity of Tiger Stadium, 14th-ranked LSU easily proved its superiority.
The 48-17 final score was simply one of many details.
LaBrandon Toefield scored three touchdowns, and four other Tigers scored as LSU opened the season by leading the Green Wave from wire to wire before a crowd of 91,782, the largest in stadium history. The win, the Tigers' 14th straight over Tulane, was their 37th in the last 41 games in the series.
"Obviously it was a great win," second-year LSU coach Nick Saban said. "It's good to get the first win under our belt. You're always concerned with how you're going to play in your first game. There's always a lot of anxiety."
For the most part, he liked what he saw.
"Obviously there were a lot of good things and obviously there's a lot of room for improvement," Saban said. "We gave up a lot of big plays. Our corner play was not what it needs to be, but the big plays disappointed me the most."
Imagine the disappointment Tulane must feel. The Green Wave (0-2) suffered its second straight blowout loss. A week earlier, BYU crushed a defenseless Tulane team 70-35 in Provo, Utah.
Green Wave players said they saw improvement against LSU, despite a 31-point margin of defeat.
"The defense improved so much," Tulane offensive lineman Corey Sewell said. "They played their hearts out even though LSU put 48 points on the board."
LSU, sparked by a handful of inspired special-teams plays, scored touchdowns on the first offensive play of the game and the first plays of the second and fourth quarters.
The Tigers pounced quickly. Domanick Davis returned the opening kickoff 59 yards to the Tulane 28, and Toefield scored on the next play, a sweep around right end, to launch LSU on its way to a 34-10 halftime lead.
"Coach said we had to go out and make a statement," Toefield said. "He said if we won the toss we were going to get the ball on offense so we could make that statement."
They did. Loudly.
Senior quarterback Rohan Davey, playing his first game as LSU's clear-cut starter, completed 19 of 29 passes for 253 yards and two touchdowns. The Tigers outgained the Green Wave in total offense, 494 yards to 391.
LSU rushed for 232 yards on 50 carries, its second 200-yard game under Saban. The Tigers gained 220 against Mississippi State last season.
"We made a lot of big plays, but I was disappointed we didn't run the ball more consistently," Saban said.
For the second straight season opener, Davey was in a groove as soon as he stepped onto the field. He completed his first four passes and 10 of his first 13.
In a 58-0 win over Western Carolina a year ago today, Davey came off the bench to complete 11 of 11 passes for 194 yards and three touchdowns. A season later, Davey is no longer Josh Booty's backup, and he played with the command of a confident veteran, secure in his status and comfortable as a leader. His teammates seemed to respond well to his presence, putting Tulane away before halftime.
"I don't ever want to be tested," Davey said. "If we can get the easy wins, why not? We didn't really have to go into our whole bag of tricks. We kept it pretty vanilla, and we were able to move the ball and score."
Toefield rushed 15 times for 58 yards and three scores. Devery Henderson, groomed at wide receiver in two-a-days but playing mostly as Toefield's backup at tailback, led LSU with 64 rushing yards on 19 carries.
Meanwhile, the Tigers bent a few times on defense but kept Tulane's multiple-sets, no-huddle offense in check for most of the night. Despite Saban's concerns about big plays, the Green Wave's longest scoring play from scrimmage was a 26-yard pass from Patrick Ramsey to Roydell Williams. Tulane did have longer plays that set up short scoring plays.
Ramsey -- like Davey, a fifth-year senior -- completed 25 of 47 passes for 343 yards and two touchdowns. He threw one interception.
"I thought we got good pressure on the quarterback and did that with four guys most of the time," Saban said.
"I think they have some talent on defense," Ramsey said of LSU. "There are just some things we need to put together, and unfortunately we weren't able to do that tonight."
Ramsey's 6-yard touchdown pass to Roydell Williams midway through the third quarter cut LSU's lead to 41-17, ending a sequence in which the Tigers scored 24 points between Tulane scoring plays.
Tulane sophomore running back Mewelde Moore, a former Belaire High School star, rushed 21 times for 50 yards, but LSU kept him out of the end zone. He scored three times against BYU.
Still, Moore impressed Saban.
"Mewelde Moore was running right through us and we had five guys trying to tackle him," Saban said.
LSU started the game with an adrenaline rush worthy of the anticipation leading up to the season, jump-starting its way to a 34-10 halftime lead by putting its first points on the board faster than in any other season opener.
"I thought we were ready to play," Saban said, underscoring the obvious. "We had good pep and spunk in pregame."
Davis took the opening kickoff at the right hash mark on his 13-yard line, veered left and raced along the sideline for 59 yards to Tulane's 28-yard line. Then on LSU's first offensive snap of the season, Toefield took the handoff from Davey and raced around right end for a 28-yard touchdown, overpowering three would-be tacklers and giving the Tigers a 7-0 lead 26 seconds into the game.
"On the first play, everyone blocked their man and put a hat on a hat," Toefield said. "I got to the secondary and then I had to do my part. The play just worked well."
Toefield's touchdown run at the 14:34 mark was the earliest LSU scoring play in a game since Sept. 19, 1987, when Harvey Williams scored on a 60-yard run against Rice 17 seconds into a 49-16 home victory in the third game of that season.
If not for John Corbello's missed 41-yard field-goal attempt on LSU's second drive against Tulane, the Tigers would have scored on all seven first-half possessions.
The Green Wave, who were effective on offense early against BYU, nearly tied the game after Corbello's miss. Terrell Harris beat LSU's Norman LeJeune downfield but had to come back to catch a 46-yard pass at the 12-yard line. The play was the first of several in which Ramsey exploited one of the Tigers' right cornerbacks.
LSU then pressured Ramsey -- Byron Dawson sacked him on third down -- forcing Tulane to settle for a 26-yard field goal by Seth Marler to pull to within 7-3 with 4:51 left in the first quarter.
The Tigers took their time, relatively speaking, scoring the second touchdown. They drove 76 yards on 14 plays, reaching the end zone on the first play of the second quarter, a 16-yard touchdown pass from Davey to a wide-open Robert Royal behind the Green Wave's secondary.
Another clutch special-teams play -- this one by LSU's Adrian Mayes -- set up the Tigers' next touchdown. Tulane punt returner Lynaris Elpheage caught a punt inside the 25-yard line, and Mayes swarmed him, appearing to force Elpheage to surrender the ball.
Several players touched the ball as it rolled toward the end zone, and Mayes covered it for the Tigers at Tulane's 4. Three plays later, Corbello's 21-yard field goal gave LSU a 17-3 lead with 9:17 left in the half.
Tulane tightened things quickly. Aided by an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty and a facemask against LSU, the Green Wave drove 78 yards to pull to within 17-10. Williams beat LSU cornerback Robert Davis down the sideline for a 26-yard touchdown catch with 7:16 left in the half.
But LSU soon regained the momentum -- and then some.
Domanick Davis gained 31 yards to the Tulane 45 on a draw from the shotgun formation, then Davey hit Josh Reed for a 42-yard gain that unfolded in part thanks to a gamble by Tulane cornerback Jeff Sanchez.
Davey's pass reached Reed near the sideline at the 23-yard line, and Sanchez chanced a lunging try for the interception. Instead, Reed caught the pass and sprinted 20 more yards to the 3.
On the next play -- with 12 defenders in the game for Tulane -- Domanick Davis swept right end for 3 yards and a 24-10 lead.
The Tigers weren't finished, thanks to another special-teams play. Elice Parker tackled Tulane punter Casey Rousell after Rousell fielded a one-hop snap at his 9, and LSU wasted no time converting the play into points.
Toefield took a pitchout around left end for a 3-yard touchdown for a 31-10 lead at the 3:56 mark. Corbello nailed a 32-yard field goal with 31 seconds left for a 34-10 halftime lead.
Slinky's 2001
Comments / Questions - Info@slinkys.com
Sign Our Guestbook? Read our Guestbook?