In LSU’s first two games of the season againsnt Virginia Tech and The Citadel, Domanick Davis took a punt and returned it all the way to the end zone for a touchdown, only to have the points wiped off the board when a Fighting Tiger blocker was called for an illegal block in the back.
On Saturday against Mississippi State in the Tigers’ Southeastern Conference opener, Davis’ blockers proved the third time was the charm, and it proved to be just the beginning of another big day for the versatile senior from Breaux Bridge in LSU’s 31-13 victory.
Davis’ 78-yard punt return with just 1:59 elapsed in the game gave LSU the lead, and after the Tigers had briefly relinquished the edge to the Bulldogs, Davis took it upon himself to make sure the Bayou Bengals would regain the edge and never relinquish it.
Davis finished the day with a career-high 286 all-purpose yards, rushing for 122 yaards on 18 carries, returning four punts for 128 yards and a kickoff for 36 yards. Davis’ previous high for all-purpose yards was 266 done twice last year, against Ole Miss and again vs. Illinois in the Sugar Bowl.
The 145 punt return yards vaulted Davis into the LSU career lead in punt return yards with 961 punt return yards, ahead of Eddie Kennison, who had 947 from 1993-95.
The Tigers had made the miscue on the coin toss by electing to kick off rather than receive after MSU had elected to defer its decision to the second half. Davis immediately made the gaffe a moot point by taking Jared Cook’s punt, darting past three tacklers up the middle and racing untouched the final 45 yards to electrify Death Valley.
Ironically, Davis’ return for a score was the first allowed by MSU since Kennison’s 100-yard return in Death Valley in 1994. Davis’ other punt return for a TD was against Ole Miss last year.
“We did a good job blocking for the punt returns, and Domanick did a good job of running with them,” Saban said.
For the rest of the first quarter and most of the second, LSU’s offense foundered, fumbling twice to the Bulldogs in Tiger territory, setting up a field goal, then a 2-yard touchdown run by Dontae Walker, giving MSU a 10-7 lead with 9:15 remaining before halftime, silencing the crowd and sending Tiger coach Nick Saban into another of the many eruptions he displayed in the opening half.
LSU fumbled yet again following the Bulldog touchdown, but a missed field goal gave the Tigers the ball back at their own 30, and Saban and Jimbo Fisher decided to simply put the ball in the hottest pair of hands wearing a white jersey, and that, of course, was Davis.
With 5:50 remaining before halftime, Davis took the Tigers’ offense on his shoulders, carrying seven consecutive times and eating up 57 yards, including three gains of 10 yards or more, forcing MSU defensive coordinator Joemsu Lee Dunn to take a timeout to give his weary troops a chance to catch their breath.
The Tigers called on LaBrandon Toefield on the next two carries, but to seal the deal, Davis was the money man, sweeping around right end for a 5-yard touchdown to cap a 10-play, 70-yard drive to make it 14-10 with 1:03 remaining before halftime.
Even when he wasan’t getting the handoffs, Davis was keeping Dunn’s aggressive, blitzing defense on its heels. On LSU’s initial drive of the second half, the Bulldogs were keying on Davis, giving Tiger quarterback Matt Mauck to receive more protection and have time to hit his targets.
Mauck, who was 2-of-6 for 9 yards in the first half and had lost two of the Tigers’ three fumbles in the first 30 minutes, took advantage of the extra time, finding Michael Clayton for seven, then taking off on a quarterback draw for 21 yards to the MSU 33.
Three plays later, Mauck hit a streaking Devery Henderson on a post pattern to give the Tigers a 21-10 lead, and LSU was on its way to its 10th victory in its last 11 outings against the Bulldogs and its 13th in 15 tries against a Jackie Sherrill-coached team.
Davis finished off his day by gaining 45 yards rushing on the Tigers’ final drive, including gains of 19 and 11 yards on the march that ended with Matt Mauck’s sneak with 9:31 to go to bring the final score to 31-13.