BATON ROUGE — Like the weather, it wasn’t particularly pretty but it was the first win of the 2002 season. The 23rd-ranked LSU football team scored four rushing touchdowns and ran for nearly 300 yards as the Tigers fought off a season-opening loss to beat Division I-AA opponent The Citadel, 35-10, on Saturday night in Tiger Stadium.
After the first of four straight games at home, LSU improved to 1-1 on the season, while The Citadel fell to 0-1.
However, three Tigers turnovers and a punt return touchdown called back kept the game from being blown wide open. LSU fumbled on its 48-yard line and The Citadel’s 17. LSU also threw an interception from the Bulldogs’ 48.
The Tigers worked on the ground to eat up The Citadel, gaining 293 yards on 40 carries, the most rushing yards since racking up 350 against North Texas in 1999.
Three Tigers rushed for at least 80 yards, including Joseph Addai with 88, Domanick Davis with 87 and LaBrandon Toefield with 82. Quarterbacks Matt Mauck (22) and Marcus Randall (14) also got into the mix.
Mauck struggled at times to find open receivers and finished with 90 yards passing on 8-of-18 attempts and an interception. Randall was 2-of-4 for 17 yards.
Michael Clayton was LSU’s leading receiver with five catches for 55 yards, while Devery Henderson added three catches for 31 yards.
The Tigers finished with 400 yards of total offense, while holding the Bulldogs to 236.
The Tigers deferred possession until the second half and stopped the Bulldogs in three plays. After a 32-yard punt by The Citadel’s Travis Zobel, the Tigers wasted no time going to work offensively.
After beginning the drive at its 49 yard line, LSU went to both the ground and the air to score in 1:27. Davis rushed three times on the drive for 29 yards, including a 22-yard touchdown run off a middle handoff from Mauck. Michael Clayton caught a pair of Mauck passes for 22 yards. LSU led 7-0 with 12:19 to play in the first quarter.
For the second week in a row, the Tigers burned a punt return touchdown by Davis by committing a block in the back. Davis took the ball at the 18 and ran through the middle of the field with only the punter to beat, which he did easily. However, Corey Webster was guilty of the infraction on a Bulldog gunner and the place came back.
Mauck’s first incompletion of the game came in the form of an interception by free safety Kevin Corley with just under six minutes to play in the quarter. However, the Bulldogs could not move the ball against the Tigers defense and were forced to punt again.
An 11-yard pass to Clayton in the flat set up a 59-yard touchdown scamper for Toefield. The PAT by John Corbello was successful and the Tigers led 14-0 with 2:43 left in the quarter.
On the ensuing drive, The Citadel entered LSU territory for the first time with 1:15 to play in the quarter. However, it would only last for one play as the Bulldogs were pushed back into their side of the field by a penalty.
Just after the start of the second quarter, LSU took over at its 25-yard line. Davis, Toefield, Mauck and Addai combined for 56 yards on eight carries to give the Tigers a 21-0 lead with just more than 10 minutes to play in the half. Addai’s 23 yard carry to the 9-yard line set up Davis’ 8-yard rushing touchdown, his second of the game.
With 8:41 to play in the half, Randall took a live snap for the first time since the 2002 Spring Football game when he torn an ACL.
Randall scrambled out of the pocket for a first down toward the middle of the field, but fumbled the ball to the Bulldogs at the 17-yard line.
LSU led The Citadel, 21-0, at the half.
Mauck returned to the field to start the second half for the Tigers, but the Tigers were forced to punt after a pair of passes were mishandled. On Donnie Jones’ 48-yard punt, Bradie James hit returner Shawn Grant jarring the ball loose. The fumble was recovered by snapper Wendell York at the 18-yard line.
Four plays later, Mauck scampered into the endzone for a 6-yard touchdown and a 28-0 lead with 12:13 left in the third quarter.
The Citadel got on the board for the first time when Klein hooked up with Ern Mills for 26 yards to the LSU 35-yard line. The 14-play, 81-yard drive ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by fullback Nehemiah Broughton. LSU led 28-7 with 5:30 to play in the quarter.
On the next drive, LSU looked to have a first down near midfield after an 11-yard reception by Clayton, however, the sophomore wide receiver fumbled the ball at the Tiger 48 and The Citadel recovered.
The Bulldogs took advantage of the short field once again, going 28 yards in 12 plays to tack on a field goal and cut the lead to 28-10 with 14:09 to play in the game.
After giving the ball back to the Bulldogs, backup quarterback Joe Call’s first pass from scrimmage was intercepted by Damien James and run back 32 yards for a touchdown. James stepped in front of the Bulldog receiver and intercepted the pass, going unchallenged into the endzone. It was the second touchdown of his career and his eighth interception.
LSU led 35-10 with just more than 10 minutes to play in the game.
James had another chance for an interception and touchdown on the next Bulldogs drive, but missed the open chance and re-aggravated a nagging shoulder injury on the play. He would return a few plays later to break up a pass and force The Citadel to punt.
LSU returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 14, when it takes on a hot Miami (Ohio) team in Tiger Stadium at 7 p.m.
Game Notes:
LSU GAME NOTES
THE CITADEL GAME
SEPTEMBER 7, 2002
- LSU won its eighth consecutive home opener, the Tigers’ longest streak for winning home openers since winning 12 in a row from 1958-69.
- The 293 yards rushing by the Tigers are the most in the Nick Saban era, eclipsing the previous high of 262 last year vs. Utah St. LSU last amassed more than 290 yards rushing in 1999 vs. North Texas with 350 yards on the ground.
- LSU’s 118 rushing yards in the first quarter surpassed the game total of 80 rushing yards the Tigers amassed last week at Virginia Tech.
- LSU has now recorded at least one rushing touchdown in its last 12 games. Last year’s first game vs. Tennessee in Knoxville was the last time LSU runners were held out of the end zone.
- Domanick Davis, LaBrandon Toefield and Matt Mauck rushed for touchdowns, marking the first time three or more LSU rushers have scored since Davis, Toefield and Devery Henderson did so last year at Mississippi St.
- CB Damien James scored his second career touchdown in the fourth quarter with a 32-yard return. His other touchdown came on a 56-yard interception return in 2000 against Houston.
- James’ eighth career interception gives him the most career thefts among active Southeastern Conference players.
- C Ben Wilkerson’s streak of 10 consecutive starts was snapped tonight, as Wilkerson did not dress after suffering an ankle injury last week at Virginia Tech. John Young started in Wilkerson’s place, marking the fifth-year senior’s first career start.
- TE Eric Edwards was also out of action, as an injured foot suffered in Blacksburg kept him in street clothes. Sophomore Demetri Robinson made his first career start in Edwards’ stead.
- True freshman FB Jason Spadoni made a tackle on a kickoff return in the second quarter. Tonight’s game marked the first action Spadoni and redshirt freshman OL Rudy Niswanger,
- Matt Mauck was one of three LSU captains, joining permanent captains Bradie James and LaBrandon Toefield.
- Toefield’s 59-yard TD run in the first quarter is his fourth career scoring run of 50 or more yards. He had a 74-yard run in 2000 vs. Tennessee, a 70-yarder against Utah St. and a 62-yarder vs. Arkansas, with both of the latter occurring last year.
- WR Michael Clayton has now caught a pass in all 14 games of his LSU career, plus the 2002 Sugar Bowl vs. Illinois that does not count toward the streak.
- Davis had his third career multi-touchdown game in the regular season; he also rushed for two TDs against Mississippi St. and Ole Miss in 2000. Davis had a career-high four TDs in last year’s Sugar Bowl win over Illinois.
- Senior deep snapper Wendell York made his first career fumble recovery, falling on a fumbled punt forced by James in the third quarter.
POSTGAME QUOTES FROM THE CITADEL
Head Coach Ellis Johnson
“I think we played a lot of people and a lot of young got to go on the field and get a lot of experience. In spite of the fact that we were way overmatched there were some positive things that I think that we can build on. I am not sure of how many of our true freshman got to play, but I think most of them got in the game. I think that we will find some positive things on the film that I think that we can build on. If we can eliminate the things that we are doing poorly, offensive penalties, drops. We are not catching punts. We did not cover kicks very well tonight, and a lot of that was not due to LSU men, but a lot of it was. They just outmanned us at times, but I thought that we did some things very poorly in the kicking game and that is what concerns me right now.”
On The Citadel offensive line
“I thought that they were very good. We obviously rolled him out quite a bit early on which kept them from getting to him a little bit. Then later on the pocket protection was pretty good. In the second half I thought that there was a conditioning element. I thought we were a little bit fresher and did some good things while we had the football.”
Quarterback Jeff Klein
“Going into halftime could have been a bigger hole than it really was. We knew that we were not getting any continuity offensively. We were not having good positive plays every time. We had a good play here and a good play their in the first half, but we just could not put a drive together. Finally we put together a drive coming out of that second half. That is great for this team. That is great going into this season. That is really what you want to see in the first game.”
“There is a lot of men on this team, a lot of fight. They are going to fight till the end. Regardless of what happens they are going to come back. They are not going to lay down. I am glad to be a part of this team now.”
QUOTES FROM LSU HEAD COACH NICK SABAN
“I am happy because we won and I was really happy with the way we played today. I think we played aggressively today. I think we wanted to establish the fact that we were gonna be a tough, physical, get after you type team, even though that might have come off a bit conservative in the way we played at times. I still thought it was the most important thing for our team to do. We didn’t start out the second half very well, but I was very pleased with the way we played in the first half. It is always disappointing when you have penalties that nullify big plays like the punt return in the first half and we had a few too many turnovers. I was pleased with the effort of our players, I thought they played hard and I thought we played pretty well on defense, we just had a couple of breakdowns in the third quarter and they put some drives together. I think you have to give their players a lot of credit for they way they played and competed in the game. They certainly didn’t give up in the game and they played hard and kept coming at us.”
“There are a lot of things that I think we need to improve on as a team and we are going to keep working at it to do that. I was pleased though with the effort and intensity we had and we practiced well and prepared well this week. I think we need to improve in areas that are obvious relative to how we throw the ball and how we make big plays on offense. We had a couple of opportunities to make them today so we just need to keep working at it. I think the more we make those plays the more confidence we will get, and the more confidence we get the more you will see these guys making some big plays because I think we are capable. I still think we have some young guys out there feeling their way but I thought we did a good job tonight on the offensive line, we rushed for a lot of yards and I think that is a real compliment to the offensive line. They (The Citadel) play a lot of 8-man fronts and some things like that. They did not blitz as much as we thought they might but we threw some short passes but did not throw the ball down the field as much. When we did do it we were not effective doing it so we need to improve on that part of our game, there is no question about that.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
Quarterback Matt Mauck
“It was a big improvement from last game offensively. It was a win, and that was the most important thing. I think we will improve next week. I promise you we will work as hard as we possibly can. We plan on improving each week and getting better game after game. My offensive line did an outstanding job this game. When we ran the ball well, it took a lot of pressure off of the passing game. There were a couple of plays that I overthrew that I wish I would have hit the receiver. The wet field was not that much of a factor. I think we will be able to run the ball a lot better in the coming games with the success of our offensive line. We worked hard this week, and we know next week is going to be a real tough game. I felt a little more comfortable this week, had a good week of practice with more repetitions. The one thing I was most happy about was the we played hard. We are going to learn a lot of things as the season goes on and I promise you we will improve.”
Middle Linebacker Bradie James
“We won and a win is a win. For all the years I have been playing this game, winning is all that matters, anyway it comes. You can always be happy with a win. It is a gradual process to get where we want to be. After tonight we will be better, cut down our mistakes, and execute a lot better. We want to get to be a dominant team. Right now, we are not there. We are learning to be dominant. We will be good when it is time. We are a couple of plays away from making some big plays. We are just one block away. That just takes time. We just have to keep at it, practicing hard, working hard and gelling as a whole. Everything will fall into place. I have no concerns at all right now because it is still early in the season. It is how you learn from your mistakes that make you better. We know expectations are high. That is just the nature of the game. This is just a process that we have to go through to make us better. We were a lot more intense this week, especially in the first half. We were that team that we wanted to be. That just has to carry over for sixty minutes. We will be ready to play for sixty minutes next Saturday against a good football team.”
Wide Receiver Michael Clayton
“We came out ready to play even with the weather like it was. The passing game opened up with the way our running backs ran today. We worked on our basics today and played real well. It just takes a while to build chemistry with our quarterback. We need to keep on improving and be ready for Miami of Ohio next week. We need to start making some big plays and stay intense the whole game. We caught the ball better tonight, but we did drop some. That is going to happen at times. We are going to give the fans what we got.”