by David Steinle
Special to LSUsports.net
One of the biggest themes of Nick Saban’s philosophy that he brought to LSU from Michigan State was that of team ownership. In a hallmark that has followed Saban from Toledo to East Lansing to Baton Rouge, players are expected to take the lead and show aggressive self-discipline and responsibility for building all key areas of a championship football program on the field, in the weight room, in the classroom, and in the community.
Saban hammered the point of team ownership home this week following LSU’s loss last week at Virginia Tech, imploring the Tiger seniors to show the way for the rest of the squad and help return LSU to its dominant ways that produced a six-game winning streak, a SEC championship and a Sugar Bowl victory to close the 2001 season.
The Tigers’ 35-10 victory over The Citadel on Saturday night in Tiger Stadium may have left some questions unanswered, but it left no question as to the leadership abilities of three Tiger seniors, tailback Domanick Davis and the defensive “James Gang”, middle linebacker Bradie and free safety Damien.
For the second consecutive week, Davis had the dubious distinction of having a punt return for a touchdown called back by an illegal block, but the Breaux Bridge native more than overcame that negative by rushing for 7 yards on 16 carries and scoring a pair of touchdowns, his fourth game with at least two touchdowns in his career.
Davis got LSU started on the Tigers’ first drive, carrying three times for 29 yards, including a 22-yard touchdown in which he broke two tackles en route to the end zone for his first score of 2002.
Following the missed opportunity on the punt return, Davis gained 13 yards on two carries on the Tigers’ next scoring drive, which ended with a 59-yard scamper by LaBrandon Toefield that made it 14-0 and gave LSU all the points they would need.
Davis missed out on being LSU’s leading rusher in the game by four yards, but he was part of a very steady Tiger ground game that gained 293 yards on the ground, the most by a Saban-coached team at LSU. Joseph Addai led the Tigers with 88 yards on the ground, while Toefield added 85.
Davis also continued his climb up LSU’s career all-purpose yardage chart, recording 17 punt return yards and 32 kickoff return yards to leave him with 3,924 yards, moving him from eighth place to fifth on the LSU career list. With 1,725 kickoff return yards, Davis is just 56 yards away from passing Robert Dow into the all-time lead.
Bradie James was one of LSU’s few bright lights in Blacksburg, making a career-high 19 tackles (two shy of the single-game record), including 11 solo stops, five special teams tackles and three quarterback pressures.
The captain from West Monroe didn’t quite reach that mark against the Bulldogs, but he sure came close, recording a game-high 18 tackles, breaking up a pass and forcing a fumble. James now has 13 career games with double-figure tackles, and he will enter the Miami (Ohio) game next week with 301 career stops.
“You can always be happy with a win, because it is a gradual process to where you want to be,” James said. “This is just a process we have to go through to make us better.”
Barring injury, James is certain to move into second place on the LSU career tackles list, ahead of Shawn Burks’ 336 and trailing only the 454 by Al Richardson from 1979-82. On his current pace, James will also shatter the LSU single-season mark of 150 tackles set by Richardson in 1981.
The fumble that James, a pre-season All-American, forced came on a Donnie Jones punt in the third quarter, and Wendell York’s subsequent recovery led to a Matt Mauck touchdown run just 2:47 into second half that made it 28-0.
“We were the team we wanted to be this week,” James said. “But this has to carry over for 60 minutes, and we will be ready to play a good football team.”
Damien James, who did not start at Virginia Tech due to disciplinary action, made the most of his return to the starting lineup, recording 10 tackles and putting the cherry on top of LSU’s victory by returning a fourth-quarter interception 32 yards for the final touchdown of the game.
James, the SEC’s active career interception leader with eight, scored the defense’s first touchdown since he returned an interception 56 yards for a touchdown against Houston in 2000. The defense’s only points in the interim came last year when Kentucky was called for holding in the end zone, awarding LSU a safety.