The LSU defense entered Saturday night’s game against Tulane on the heels of a 52-38 home loss to Georgia and a week of scrutiny.But for a moment in the second quarter, the Tigers’ defense looked to be back to its old form. LSU junior defensive end Rahim Alem forced a fumble with the Tigers up only 14-3 late in the second quarter, and junior cornerback Chris Hawkins scooped the ball up and returned it for a 24-yard touchdown en route to a 35-10 LSU win Saturday night.”We practice that if you come from the back side, you hit that arm of the quarterback,” Alem said. “I was looking at the ball and was crawling to get the ball, and I saw Chris [Hawkins] pick it up. I didn’t hear any whistles, so I knew something good was happening.”The victory propelled the Tigers to No. 16 in the BCS Standings. The hype has already begun for Saturday’s game against an Alabama team that vaulted to No. 1 after previous No. 1 Texas fell Saturday.LSU coach Les Miles said his team must ignore the “peripheral” chatter about former LSU coach Nick Saban and his return to Tiger Stadium.”Tomorrow morning we will have a discussion about some of those issues with the team,” Miles said Sunday. “The real view we have to have is an introspective one. We have to fix things. We need to play better. The opportunity for us to play four quality quarters of football hasn’t happened yet.”But the early turnover was a move in the right direction for LSU’s defense. The play was the Tigers’ first defensive touchdown this season and only the fourth fumble recovery.Tulane coach Bob Toledo said the play was a big part of his team’s loss.”I hate to use one play as the turning point,” he said. “But that play hurt us because we could have gone in at halftime and still had a chance.”But the defense still left question marks in certain areas of the stat sheet despite the second quarter turnover.The Tigers (6-2, 3-2) got only two sacks in the game, giving them 18 in eight games. LSU had 37 sacks in 14 games last season.The Tigers also had no interceptions against Tulane’s two young quarterbacks, leaving them with only four on the year. LSU had 23 total interceptions last season.And the secondary had a couple of key pass interference penalties that cost the team.”We cannot make mistakes,” Miles said. “There were too many mistakes, and certainly we are still making mistakes at times. But I don’t think that was a team that has peaked at play.”The Green Wave (2-6, 1-3 Conference USA) also hurt themselves with penalties. A holding penalty on third-and-7 on LSU’s 25 pushed Tulane back to a third-and-17. Tulane ended up scoring on the drive with a career-long 48-yard field goal by Ross Thevenot.”The penalty hurt us tremendously,” Toledo said. “It took us out of a drive, and it cost us a touchdown.”LSU’s offense got off to a fast start, scoring a 7-yard run by running back Charles Scott on its opening possession. The junior finished the game with 114 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.Scott didn’t play in the second half because of an apparent injury — one he said felt “good” after the game.”Charles kind of tweaked his ankle,” said LSU offensive lineman Ciron Black. “During [second-half] warmups he was fine. The coaches may have wanted to give someone else some touches. I just saw that he had tape on his ankle.”Redshirt freshman quarterback Jarrett Lee didn’t throw the ball much in the first half, going 5-for-11 for 45 yards and a touchdown. He finished the game 8-for-20 for 99 yards with a touchdown and an interception. The pick was Lee’s fifth interception returned for a touchdown this season. Lee was injured on the play, but he returned the next series. “I just got the breath knocked out of me,” he said. “I hadn’t got the breath knocked out of me since second grade, so I just forgot how it felt.”Freshman Jordan Jefferson entered the game in the fourth quarter but didn’t attempt a pass. The Tigers scored on a 3-yard rushing touchdown by Stevan Ridley to put LSU up, 35-10.”We wanted to give him a number of snaps, and I’d liked to have thrown the football a little more at the end,” Miles said. “We didn’t want to put him in early with the idea that the game was still in question.”Lee said the game was a big confidence booster for both him and the offense.”The offense managed the game well,” he said. “We made a few mistakes, but we can work on them. Overall we came out with a victory, and we’re excited about it.”—-Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]