Sam Leavitt leads LSU to 63-14 victory over McNeese State

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Sam Leavitt threw for 173 yards and three touchdowns and No. 11 LSU beat McNeese State 63-14 on Saturday night.

Harlem Berry ran for 125 yards and a touchdown and Stacy Gage added 110 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, as the Tigers rolled to 731 yards of total offense against their Football Championship Subdivision foe — the second-most in one game in school history and the most since 2023. The 101 offensive plays run by LSU is a school record.

“Outside of a few plays late I thought our guys played really well,” LSU head coach Lane Kiffin said. “I know you are supposed to win these games big, but it doesn’t always happen. I thought our guys responded well particularly coming out of the locker room and played well in the third quarter. It was good to see a lot of guys make plays.

“A lot of snaps for guys. The goal was to get (that up) to evaluate those guys because they are going to need to play with the injuries we have down the stretch. We have seven consecutive conference games in a row. 101 plays is a lot of snaps for the backups to get in there and do some things.”

The defense got things started for LSU (4-1) when Tamarcus Cooley intercepted Jake Strong on McNeese State’s first possession. Nine plays later, Dilin Jones scored from a yard out to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead.

Three consecutive three-and-outs by the Tigers defense helped LSU put the game out of reach early in the second quarter. Leavitt had a 1-yard touchdown pass to Roman Mothershed and a 6-yard touchdown pass to Corey Barber Jr. sandwiched around a 3-yard touchdown run by Landen Clark to make it 28-0.

Barber finished the game with six catches for 76 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Leavitt completed 18 of 23 passes.

LSU dominated the first half, outgaining the Cowboys (2-4) 347-31. McNeese State’s offense crossed midfield only once during the first half.

Freshman defensive tackle Deuce Geralds even got in on the scoring for the Tigers, scoring from a yard out on a direct snap on LSU’s first possession of the second half to make it 42-0.

“I asked our historian just before we walked in if anyone had ever had a sack and an offensive touchdown,” Kiffin said. “He said yes, Booger (Anthony McFarland) had done it against Florida (in 1995). But he had half a sack and a touchdown. I just actually called Booger to confirm that and he said Deuce has the record now.”

Gage scored on runs of 46 and 39 yards in the second half.

The Cowboys got on the board with under five minutes to go in the third quarter on a 43-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Brady Barrier to Jamaal Levi to make it 49-7. He added a 64-yard touchdown run on the ensuing possession to make it 49-14.

The takeaway

McNeese State: The Cowboys weren’t expected to contend in the game against the Tigers and it was evident from the opening possession. Levi’s two touchdowns did give McNeese State its most points scored in the brief three-game history of the series, surpassing the 10 points they scored in 2010.

LSU: Still not 100% because of a nagging hamstring injury, Leavitt was effective in the pocket, completing 10 of his first 12 passes. The Tigers also got plenty of work for backup quarterback Clark, who played a majority of the third quarter.

Up next

McNeese State travels to Northwestern State on Oct. 17.

LSU travels to Kentucky next Saturday.

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