STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Rohan Davey and receiver Josh Reed hooked up 10 times for 146 yards and two touchdowns as LSU dominated Mississippi State 42-0 Saturday night.
The Tigers (4-2, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) won consecutive road games for the first time in four years and beat the Bulldogs (1-5, 0-4) for the ninth time in 10 meetings.
None have been easier. It was the Tigers’ most lopsided win in the series since a 47-0 rout in 1986.
Davey was 16-for-25 for 255 yards and three touchdowns, while fourth-quarter backup Matt Mauck was 2-of-4 for 25 yards.
Mississippi State, which began the season ranked, has lost five straight for the first time in 13 years and is 0-4 in the SEC for the first time since 1995.
Already trailing 14-0, the Bulldogs committed turnovers deep in their own territory on their first two second-half possessions. LSU turned both into touchdowns.
Moments after LSU recovered a muffed punt at the Bulldogs’ 38, Davey threaded a pass between two defenders into the end zone to Reed, who beat his man with a sharp inside move. The 22-yard play put the Tigers up three touchdowns.
Ryan Clark intercepted a pass at Mississippi State’s 21 about a minute later and Davey went back to work.
He hit Michael Clayton over the middle for 20 yards and Domanick Davis ran in from a yard out on the next play to up the lead to 28-0 with 8:17 left in the third quarter.
Reed, who came in leading the SEC in receiving yards (133 per game), caught all six of Davey’s first-half completions for 116 yards.
It was the 13th career 100-yard game for Reed, tying a school record held by Wendell Davis.
Davey and Reed teamed for a 13-yard touchdown in the second quarter that gave the Tigers a 14-0 lead.
Dicenzo Miller’s return to the lineup after missing two of the last three games with an ankle injury was the lone bright spot for Mississippi State. The tailback had 122 total yards while wearing a new number.
Miller donned No. 31 instead of his usual 12 in honor of his injured backfield-mate, Justin Griffith. The fullback is out for the season after having surgery this week to remove a bone spur in his neck.
Mississippi State tried to jump start its struggling offense by inserting backup quarterback Kevin Fant in the second quarter.
It didn’t help.
Fant was 11-for-26 for 168 yards with two interceptions. Starter Wayne Madkin, who returned in the third quarter, was 7-for-16 for 80 yards and an interception.
The Bulldogs have averaged seven points a game during their losing streak and have been shut out twice.
LSU GAME NOTES
LSU vs. Mississippi State
Oct. 20, 2001
Starkville, Miss.
- The Tigers defeated Mississippi State for the ninth time in their last 10 meetings and the 14th time in their last 17 contests.
- The shutout was the first by the Tigers on the road in conference play since shutting out Alabama 27-0 on Nov. 8, 1997. The margin of victory was the most by an LSU team since shutting out Mississippi State 47-0 in Jackson in 1986.
- With a 29-pass to Josh Reed in the second quarter, Rohan Davey moved passed legendary LSU quarterback and NFL Hall of Famer Y.A. Tittle into 10th place in LSU history in passing yardage. The pass gave Davey 2,546 yards at the time. Tittle, a letterwinner from 1944-47, threw for 2,525 yards in his career at LSU. Davey entered the game with 2,443 yards, needing only 83 to pass Tittle.
- On a 16-yard reception from Rohan Davey, LSU receiver Josh Reed moved into fourth place on the all-time LSU receiving yardage list, passing Andy Hamilton who recorded 1,995 yards from 1969-71. In addition, Reed, who entered the game with 1,928 yards, became only the fourth player in LSU history to reach 2,000 career yards joining Wendell Davis (2,708), Eric Martin (2,625) and Tony Moss (2,196). Reed is also the fastest to 2,000 yards, taking only 20 regular season games (counting only his games at receiver, not at running back). It took Wendell Davis 26 games from the time he recorded his first reception to reach 2,000 yards (37 if you add his freshman season where he lettered but did not record a statistic). Eric Martin went over 2,000 yards in his 34th game.
- On a 29-yard reception in the second quarter, Josh Reed went over 100 yards receiving in a game for the 13th time in his career matching Wendell Davis for the most career 100-yard games in LSU history. Reed accomplished the feat in only 20 games since moving to the position in 1999. Reed has posted 100-yard games in all six of the Tigers’ games this season and nine of the last 11 LSU regular season games.
- With a 22-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter, Josh Reed moved past Larry Foster for sole possession of eighth place on the all-time LSU touchdown receptions list with 13. Reed had matched Foster earlier in the game with a 14-yard touchdown. It was also the fourth multiple-touchdown game of his career.
- Josh Reed reached double figures in receptions for only the second time in his career — with both times coming against Mississippi State. Reed caught 10 passes for 113 yards in the Tigers’ victory over the Bulldogs a year ago.
- LaBrandon Toefield matched Charles Alexander for the fewest games needed to 10 rushing touchdowns in LSU history, doing so in his sixth game after scoring on a 7-yard run in the second quarter. Alexander reached the mark in the sixth game of the 1977 season and eventually went on to score a school record 17.
- Josh Reed continues to pile up huge chunks of yardage every time he gets his hands on the ball. With a 42-yard reception on the Tigers’ second offensive play, Reed now has at least one 30-yard reception in every game this season. The catch was his 10th play of better than 30 yards on the season.
- Damien James, making his first start at cornerback, intercepted his fourth pass in the last three weeks in the second quarter, stalling a key Mississippi State drive. For James it was his SEC-leading fifth interception of the season and seventh of his career. James’ five interceptions this season are the most by a Tiger since Cedric Donaldson posted seven in 1997.
- LSU shutout an opponent in the first half of play for the first time this season and the first time since shutting out Kentucky 34-0 on Oct. 14, 2000.
- Domanick Davis scored his first touchdown of the season in the third quarter on a 1-yard run. The touchdown was Davis’ first since scoring a pair of touchdowns against Ole Miss last season in the Tigers’ last game on ESPN2.
- With five different players scoring touchdowns, it marked the first time the Tigers had as many different scorers since six different players scored in a 52-0 shutout of North Texas in 1999.
- Eric Edwards caught his second pass of the season on a 29-yard touchdown reception from Davey. His stats this season ?V two catches, two touchdowns for 32 yards. Of his last five catches dating back to last season, four have been for touchdowns.
- LSU improved to 12-0 all-time under Nick Saban when scoring 20-plus points.
- LSU improved to 5-2 all-time on ESPN2 and 3-0 under Nick Saban.
- Senior free safety Ryan Clark made his team-leading 29th consecutive start dating back to the 1999 season opener against San Jose State. Trev Faulk made his 26th straight start at linebacker dating back to the fourth game of his freshman season at Georgia. Jerel Myers started for the 28th time in 29 career games. The only non-start during Myers’ three-year career was the 1999 season finale against Arkansas when the Tigers started in a three tight end alignment.
- Damien James made his first career start at cornerback, starting in place of Erin Damond. James had previously started four games in his career at the nickel spot, including twice this year against Florida and Kentucky.
- True Freshman Ben Wilkerson made his second consecutive start at center. Wilkerson is the first true freshman to start on the LSU offensive line since Todd McClure in 1995.
- Kyle Kipps made his first start of the 2001 season at defensive end, starting in place of Kenderick Allen. The senior from Lafayette started seven games at the position a year ago. Byron Dawson made his second start at left defensive tackle, starting in place of Muskingum Barnes for the second time in the last three weeks.
- With an 11-yard reception, Jerel Myers has now caught a pass in 28 of 29 career games. The lone exception was last year’s victory over Ole Miss. Myers has now caught at least one pass in seven straight games, the second longest streak on the Tigers behind Josh Reed’s 20 game streak.
- Team captains for the game were permanent captains QB Rohan Davey, LB Trev Faulk, TE Robert Royal and honorary captain, senior SS Lionel Thomas.