The Tulane football team looked more like a puddle than a wave Halloween night. With Alabama looming on the schedule next weekend, the Tigers (7-1, 4-1 SEC) took care of business against Tulane (2-6, 0-4 Conference USA) in a 42-0 thrashing. The victory kept LSU at No. 9 in the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches Top 25 polls and in the BCS standings.”It’s a little bit of a mismatch, regardless of what people want to say,” said Tulane coach Bob Toledo. “They’re good. They’re bigger, faster and stronger than we are.”The victory moves LSU coach Les Miles past former coach Nick Saban for sole possession of third place on the all-time wins list at LSU with 49. LSU senior defensive back Daniel Graff blocked a punt on Tulane’s first drive, marking the Tigers’ first blocked punt since LaRon Landry at Florida in 2006.  Freshman quarterback Russell Shepard picked up where he left off following his first touchdown of the year last week on a 69-yard rush against Auburn with a 19-yard rushing touchdown to give the Tigers an early 7-0 lead.  ”My main focus is getting on that field and being able to contribute wherever I am,” Shepard said. “If they want me to throw the football, if they want me to run it, if they want me to catch it, catch punts, return kicks, I’ll do it all. I was brought here to be a versatile- type guy.”Senior receiver Brandon LaFell was wide open on a blown coverage, and sophomore quarterback Jordan Jefferson found him on a 39-yard touchdown pass to extend the Tigers’ lead to 14-0 in the first quarter.Former Tiger running back Billy Cannon was honored after the first quarter for the 50th anniversary of his 89-yard punt return touchdown on Halloween night which led the Tigers past Ole Miss, 7-3.In the second quarter, Tulane missed a 43-yard field goal wide left on one of its few scoring opportunities. “We kicked a bad field goal,” Toledo said. “That could have given us some points and a little momentum.” LSU sophomore cornerback Patrick Peterson intercepted Tulane freshman quarterback Ryan Griffin at LSU’s 5-yard line with under two minutes left in the first half, spoiling a 61-yard drive for the Green Wave.The turnover marked the 10th straight game the Tigers have made an interception. Senior running back Charles Scott pounded it up the middle for 112 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Scott has seven career touchdowns and more than 350 yards rushing against Tulane.  ”It’s nothing against Tulane; we just came out and had a point that we were going to run the ball tonight,” Scott said. “Our offensive line came to play.”Scott rushed for more than 100 yards for the first time in a game this season.”Any time you can run the ball, it’s going to open up a lot of things for you,” Scott said.LaFell found the end zone again on a 13-yard pass from Jefferson in the fourth quarter. Sophomore running back Stevan Ridley finished off the scoring in garbage time with a 10-yard rushing touchdown, increasing LSU’s lead to 42-0. LaFell moved into second place on the all-time LSU receiving touchdown list with 22. He is four shy of former Tiger wide receiver Dwayne Bowe. “It’ll be something if I get it,” LaFell said. “But if I get it and we lose another game and don’t make it to that national championship game … it wouldn’t mean too much.”Tulane senior running back André Anderson was averaging more than 90 rushing yards a game but only mustered 29 in the loss. Tulane had an abysmal 26 rushing yards on the night. Junior linebacker Kelvin Sheppard, Anderson’s former high school teammate, led the LSU defense with 13 tackles and a sack, marking his third straight game with at least 13 tackles.”Whenever you see linebackers leading the team in tackles it must mean the [defensive] line is keeping the offensive line off of us,” Sheppard said.—-Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]