One play. Fourteen seconds.
While fans still settled into their seats as the game clock started, LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier tossed a screen pass to running back Caden Durham.
It was the first play of the game, and Durham needed to run a few more steps for the first down – a respectable start.
Instead, he blasted down the sideline for an extra 71 yards into the end zone. In one play, he gained more total yards than any other LSU running back (besides himself) has had in a game this year.
Durham’s bull-like force didn’t stop there in LSU’s 42-10 win over South Alabama.
The next offensive play, Nussmeier handed the ball off, and Durham powered through the middle for an 86-yard run. He was tripped up at the one-yard line, but set LSU up for another touchdown.
Oh, and he’s a true freshman.
In only his fourth collegiate game, Durham ended up rushing for 128 yards on seven carries and had two touchdowns.
“He does an unbelievable job,” Nussmeier said. “He’s very explosive with the ball in his hands… Give him space and good things happen.”
Durham ran the ball eight yards for his second touchdown of the night with a little less than five minutes left in the first quarter.
“I think we’ve done a really good job of putting him in a position where he can be successful,” head coach Brian Kelly said about Durham.
Durham was injured in the first half when an offensive lineman landed on his foot at the end of that touchdown run. While he didn’t come back in, this was truly his breakout game.
The Tigers had 667 yards of total offense in a powerful performance. Nussmeier also had a career-high 409 passing yards, beating his 395 yards thrown in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Wisconsin.
Most seasons, this dominant outcome seems unsurprising for a Sun Belt-SEC matchup. But this isn’t a usual South Alabama team.
Under head coach Major Applewhite, a Baton Rouge native, the Jaguars have had an electric start this season. They massacred Northwestern State in a 87-10 win and beat Appalachian State 48-14. South Alabama would put its all into keeping up with LSU.
However, the Tiger defense pounced on the Jaguars and held them to 333 total yards and only one touchdown. Linebacker Greg Penn III led the defense with 14 total tackles, including seven solo tackles.
“We put him in some tough situations, Greg, tonight where he had to cover a receiver on two or three occasions, coming up underneath and out of the backfield,” Kelly said.
South Alabama showed a little life in the second quarter when kicker Laith Marjan nailed a 49-yard field goal.
Nussmeier responded with a rush up the middle into the end zone. Minutes later, he threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Anderson. The Tigers were up 35-3.
While the LSU offense has occasionally started slow in the opening half, it changed the narrative against the Jaguars. In just the first half, LSU had 429 total yards. South Alabama only had 81 passing yards and 43 rushing yards.
The Jaguars came out of halftime with a sense of eagerness to start putting up touchdowns. Quarterback Gio Lopez nailed a 27-yard shot to wide receiver Anthony Eager into the endzone on the first drive.
Lopez connected with Eager again for a 1st-and-goal after a 38-yard pass. On 4th-and-goal, Lopez ran the ball up the middle, but was trucked at the goal line by linebacker Whit Weeks and safety Major Burns. His helmet went flying.
To open the fourth quarter, Nussmeier threw a 35-yard dot to wide receiver Kyren Lacy, setting LSU up at the Jaguars’ four-yard line. Running back Josh Williams finished the 99-yard drive with a four-yard rushing touchdown.
Quarterback Rickie Collins came into the game with six minutes left as the Tigers ran the clock out.
LSU will now enter its bye week before the highly anticipated matchup against Ole Miss at home on Oct. 12.
“I think that our best football has still yet to be played,” Nussmeier said. “I think we made some mistakes out there that we’d like to have back, and I think it’s good for us going into the bye week.”
