Tiger ‘D’ Too Much for Vanderbilt, Post 24-7 Victory

By Chris Macaluso
Special to www.LSUsports.net

BATON ROUGE — LSU’s contest against Vanderbilt Saturday in Tiger Stadium looked for a while like a repeat of last week’s 24-20 squeaker against Troy State. At least, until the second half started.

The Tigers, who held a tenuous 10-7 lead in the halftime locker room, tightened the screws in the second half and beat their outmanned opponent 24-7 as a subdued crowd of 90,825 looked on.

LSU improved its record to 6-2, 3-2 in the Southeastern Conference and will take next week off before returning to Tiger Stadium Nov. 13 to take on Alabama. Vandy’s record dropped to 2-6, 1-4 in the SEC. It will host Florida next week in Nashville.

After struggling to run the ball effectively last week, the Tigers’ rushing attack soared Saturday while LSU scraped by in the passing department. Eight different Tigers carried the ball, amassing 273 rushing yards among them. Alley Broussard led all rushers with 80 yards on just nine carries and LSU’s first touchdown of the game. Joseph Addai impressed as well with 77 yards on 14 attempts.

While the Tigers seized control of the tight contest with an impressive touchdown drive to start the second half, the back-breaker for the Commodores was a 65-yard punt return by Skyler Green with 7:11 remaining in the third quarter, putting the game out of reach for the scrappy Vandy squad.

“That punt return was huge for them,” said Commodore Head Coach Bobby Johnson. “It really demoralized us.”

Both JaMarcus Russell and Marcus Randall played a significant amount at quarterback for LSU after Russell spent last week’s game on the sideline. Both compiled very modest numbers, with Randall completing 4-6 passes for a scant 78 yards and Russell completing just 2-5 attempts for 24 yards. But, Randall was accurate when it counted, completing a 34-yard touchdown pass to Craig Davis on the opening drive of the second half to give LSU a 17-7 lead. He also accounted for 68 of LSU’s rushing yards on eight attempts.

Quarterback Jay Cutler was the offensive leader for the Commodores with 111 passing and 34 rushing yards. Included in that rushing total is the one yard he needed to give Vanderbilt its lone score, a touchdown with little more than one minute to play in the first half. He left the game in the middle of the third quarter with a neck injury. Vanderbilt compiled 289 total yards while LSU managed 375.

LSU won the coin toss but elected to defer, giving Vanderbilt a chance to run three plays before punting on the opening possession of the game. The Tigers took over on offense at its 30 yard line with redshirt freshman Russell at quarterback. He threw just one pass during the ensuing 11-play drive, relying instead on Addai’s crafty running to give LSU the chance to score first on a 26-yard field goal by Ryan Gaudet. LSU took a 3-0 advantage thanks to Gaudet with 8:16 remaining in the first quarter.

The two teams traded punts before LSU had another chance to add to its early lead. The Tigers’ next scoring drive began at their own 11-yard line thanks to a holding penalty on a Green punt return. But LSU quickly left the shadow of the north endzone behind thanks to a 32-yard scamper by Broussard on the drive’s first play.

LSU continued to span large chunks of territory on the ground throughout the drive, but were forced again to attempt a field goal inside the Commodore 15-yard line after the drive stalled. This time, Chris Jackson pushed the three-point attempt wide left and the score remained 3-0 with 13:34 remaining in the first half.

Vanderbilt took possession at the LSU 20-yard line and pushed the ball across midfield for the first time on a 34-yard completion from Cutler to Marlon White, giving the Commodores a first down at the LSU 42. Cutler drove his team to the Tiger 29-yard line with an 11-yard run on a quarterback draw, but the drive stalled there and Patrick Johnson entered the game to attempt to tie the score with a 47-yard field goal. LSU’s Jesse Daniels squashed that threat by blocking the attempt before it reached the line of scrimmage.

LSU took over with Randall calling the signals at its 30-yard line but was forced to punt after three plays. Vanderbilt didn’t give itself the chance to punt after taking the ball back from LSU as tailback Kwane Dostler dropped an option pitch from Cutler giving LSU the ball at the Commodore 21-yard line.

The Tigers appeared to extend the advantage on the third play after the fumble when Broussard tiptoed across the goal line from 11-yards out. But that play was called back because of a holding penalty. Instead, Broussard put the Tigers ahead 9-0 two plays later when he bulled his way through the middle of the Commodore defense from seven yards out. Gaudet’s point after was good and LSU took a 10-0 lead with 6:12 remaining in the half.

Vandy fought back on its next possession to cut the Tiger lead back to three points as Cutler expertly guided his team on a 13-play, 83 yard drive. After completing a 13-yard pass to White on third down at the LSU 14 yard line and giving his team a first down at the one-yard line, Cutler dove over the pile for his team’s first score. Johnson added the point after and the Tiger lead was cut to 10-7.

Randall started the second half for the Tigers and put his team in position to drive into Vanderbilt territory on the first play of the drive when he turned a well-covered passing play into a 29-yard scramble. Broussard extended LSU’s scoring chance by picking up nine yards on a fourth and one run on the drive’s seventh play before Randall found receiver Craig Davis between two Commodore defensive backs in the north endzone. Davis out-jumped both Commodores before hitting the turf with the touchdown catch. Gaudet’s point after extended the Tiger lead to 17-7 after a six-play, 81-yard drive.

Green extended LSU’s lead with 7:11 remaining in the third quarter by returning a punt from Abtin Iranmanesh 65 yards while the Tiger Stadium crowd rose to its collective feet. Gaudet’s point after increased the LSU advantage to 24-7.

Vandy followed Green’s spectacular score with another precise drive into LSU territory. But that drive stalled due in large part to a personal foul penalty that pushed the Commodores from a second down at the Tiger 20-yard line to a third down and 23 at the Tiger 35-yard line. The Commodores were forced to punt and the two teams traded turnovers throughout the rest of the contest while neither threatened to score.

LSU vs. Vanderbilt — Oct. 30, 2004 — Tiger Stadium

Team notes

• LSU’s game captains are 10 Joseph Addai, 76 Andrew Whitworth and 84 Marcus Spears.
• Today’s honorary captains for LSU are Buddy Soefker (HB from 1961-1963), Ben Bordelon (OL from 1993-1996), Anthony McFarland (DT from 1995-98), Rondell Mealey (RB from 1996-99), Michael Clayton (WR from 2001-03), Devery Henderson (WR from 2000-03).
• LSU won the toss and deferred to the second half. Vanderbilt will receive to open the game.
• Tigers extending their consecutive starts streak tonight were: OT Andrew Whitworth (35), DE Marcus Spears (27), LB Lionel Turner (23), C Ben Wilkerson (22), CB Travis Daniels (22), FS LaRon Landry (17) and DT Kyle Williams (16).
• LSU’s sack of Vanderbilt QB Jay Cutler with 3:07 left in the first quarter (sack by DE Kirston Pittman) extended the Tigers streak of recording at least one sack in a game to 33 straight.
• Jessie Daniels blocked Vanderbilt’s 47-yard FG attempt in the second quarter. It was LSU’s first blocked FG since blocking a 30-yard attempt against Western Illinois on Sept. 13, 2003.
• LSU’s fumble recovery in the second quarter was the Tiger’s first turnover since intercepting a pass in the fourth quarter on the Mississippi State earlier this season, a span of three-plus games.
• Vanderbilt’s 83-yard touchdown drive late in the second half was the longest scoring drive against LSU this season.
• LSU under Nick Saban … LSU is now 38-3 when leading at the half and 36-3 when leading after three quarters … LSU is now 41-3 when scoring 20 points of more.
• LSU has now won eight straight games in Tiger Stadium.

Individual notes

• DE Kirston Pittman made the first start of his career.
• Skyler Green’s 65-yard punt return in the third quarter moved the junior into seventh-place on the career punt return yards list in LSU history, passing both Tommy Casanova and Craig Burns. Green entered the game with 501 yards and finished with 591 and now sits in seventh place.
• Green’s 65-yard punt return for a touchdown with 7:11 in the third quarter was the third of the junior’s career and the first by an LSU player since he returned a punt 80 yards against Florida on Oct. 11, 2003.
• SS Jessie Daniels recovered a fumble with 8:24 left in the second quarter. It was the sophomore’s first fumble recovery of his career.
• RB Alley Broussard scored his sixth touchdown of the season (all in the first half) on a 7-yard run with 6:12 left in the second quarter. The score was his 10th rushing touchdown of the sophomore’s career.
• WR Craig Davis pulled down his first career touchdown reception on a 34-yard pass from QB Marcus Randall with 11:35 left in the third quarter.
• Davis became the 12th different LSU player to score an offensive touchdown this season.
• WR Skyler Green pulled down a reception with 10:46 left in the fourth quarter, extending his reception streak to 22 straight games in which he has played on offense (Green did not play an offensive down at Auburn, but was in on special teams).
• DT Claude Wroten forced a fumble late in the fourth quarter. It was recovered by DT Kyle Williams. Each was the first of their career for both players.

LSU HEAD COACH NICK SABAN

“It was a good one for our team. I like the spirit that we played with today. We had some competitive spirit and some internal inspiration that certainly was encouraging to see after not seeming to have it, like we like to have it, last week and I was pleased about that. We obviously have a lot of things that we can do to improve as a team. Turning the ball over again like we did a couple of times today, we got hit pretty good. I still think that trying to take the air out of the ball at the end of the game and we can’t get it done.”

On the play of the defense…
“Defensively I thought that we played pretty well in the game. We gave up a couple of third downs on their scoring drive right before the half, five to be exact. It’s something that we are usually pretty good at. They did something today. They kept in regular people all the time on third downs, so in the first half, we didn’t have quite as much stuff to sub or ready to play against that because the multiple formations are greater. So we made some half time adjustments and the kids did a great job of picking it up and doing a little bit better job pressuring the quarterback in the second half. I thought we played the option halfway decent and you’ve got to give their players a lot of credit they competed well in the game and they played hard, they were physical. I don’t know exactly what happened with their quarterback, if he was injured in the game, or why he never came back in the game. I don’t know, you may know more about that than I do.”

On Ben Wilkerson’s injury…
“It was very disappointing at the end of the game to have Ben Wilkerson get injured. We don’t know the extent of his injury, but we are going to hope for the best and pray for the best and hope it’s not bad. Ben was hurt at the end of the game, as everybody will say, why was he in there, the score was 24-7. We didn’t make wholesale substitutions at any positions. We were ahead by 17 points. As you do and I do, if he is hurt I will wish he wasn’t in the game. No one ever likes to see anyone get hurt at any point in the game. It’s unfortunate that it happens when you are just trying to get the game over and take the air out of the ball. So that’s a little heavy on our hearts right now and our minds, and we’ll do the best we can to pray for the best for him. He’s been a great young man in our program and we certainly hope that he isn’t injured seriously.”

LSU OFFENSIVE PLAYER QUOTES

RB ALLEY BROUSSARD

On tonight’s game…
“Coach Saban really challenged us to go out there and play hard. We wanted to run the ball a lot and pass when we needed to and just play 100 percent.”

On preparation for this game in last week’s practice…
“We prepared more mentally to be more consistent, and that’s what we did when we went out there.”

On what went differently tonight…
“We ran the ball a lot really strong. We played really hard and showed our toughness. We still need to work on a daily basis and get prepared for Alabama.”

On going into open date before key conference games…
“We need to continue to mentally prepare. We have aches and bruises, and we need to get those taken care of so we can prepare for the next game and then play game by game.”

OT ANDREW WHITWORTH

On how the win feels tonight as opposed to the win over Troy…
“We feel better tonight. We played hard; we played the way we wanted to play. We didn’t quite executed like we wanted at times, but we played with the attitude we wanted to.”

On Ben Wilkerson’s injury at the end of the game…
“It was kind of a sour thing in the end with Ben getting hurt. We hope everything’s going to be alright and we pray that he’ll be alright.”

QB MARCUS RANDALL

On the win over Vanderbilt…
“Coach Saban challenged us during the week to come out and play hard, and I think the guys did a great job of coming out and doing that.”

On coming in again after not starting the game…
“Coach Saban and I had the talk on the sidelines, and I felt good going into the game. I felt great. I’ve come in three times off the bench and played well, so we went with that and I think it worked out well for us.”

On the offense’s performance tonight…
“We came out tonight wanting to establish the line of scrimmage, and our offensive line did a good job of that. They allowed us to run the ball the way we wanted to do and did a really great job tonight.”

WR SKYLER GREEN

On tonight’s win…
“We came out doing the things Coach Saban wanted us to do. We made a couple of mistakes here and there, but we did what we needed to do to pick up the win. There are still some things we need to work on, so we need to work harder and get better week by week.”

On his punt return for a touchdown…
“Our guys held their guys well up front and kept their gunners off of me. And once I got a good look at the field, that pretty much speaks for itself. Gino Giambelluca made a good block coming up when I first got to the wall, and Early Doucet led me to the end zone. I give the credit all to the guys on the punt return team.”

LSU DEFENSIVE PLAYER QUOTES

DT Kyle Williams

On the defense’s ability to create turnovers in the game…
“It felt good. We came out, and I think we established the line of scrimmage. We were able to dominate both lines of scrimmage. We were lucky enough to some turnovers, whether they be picked off or fumbles. It felt good. It felt good to go out and knock some guys around and get some turnovers.”

“We were negative 15 in turnovers the past three or four games or so. We needed to come out, and we needed to create some turnovers. We did that tonight. It is something that we’ve been emphasizing on the past couple of weeks and haven’t really been able to get it done. We got that done and were able to dominate the game.”

DE Marcus Spears

On the leadership he provides for this team…
“It’s something that I have to do. I understand my role on this team, and I understand what these guys feed off of. When I play well, it makes guys step their game up. That’s something that I have to continue to do. It’s a great feeling to go out there and know what you’re doing and just get back to football — feeling like a kid again on the football field. I think that’s part of my success these past two games.”

VANDERBILT HEAD COACH BOBBY JOHNSON

Opening Statement
“I felt like we had some opportunities to stay in the game, and the punt return was a huge play for them. It sort of demoralized us, and the long pass too. We were in good shape but we didn’t make the plays. Those are opportunities that we need to take advantage of against a very good football team to have a chance to win and we didn’t do it.

On the big plays LSU made…
“Well I don’t know what happened on the punt. It is hard for me to see on the ground, and I don’t know if it broke down or if they made a great play or what. The pass, we were in man coverage, and I thought we had excellent coverage. We just did not make the play on the ball at the point of attack, and they got up and made a big play. I felt like we got them to do what we wanted them to do in that situation, but we didn’t make the play to finish it off.”

On only being down three at the half…
“We felt pretty good about it. We had a good first half and we played hard. I thought our guys played extremely hard. Defensively we were hanging in there. We were not stuffing them by no means, but we were hanging in there making them execute. We had some people step up and make some plays to keep them out of the endzone. That’s what you have to do in that situation. Hang in there and hang in there, and we just couldn’t keep hanging in the second half”

VANDERBILT PLAYER QUOTES

QB Jay Cutler

On neck injury…
“My neck feels a little stiff from that late hit in the third quarter. It just pressed my neck straight down and I felt numb for a second. I am going to get x-ray’s, but I am fine.”

On starting the second half…
“We felt good. We moved the ball well. We scored right there before half time on an 85- yard drive. We did some good things. We had to pick it up a little bit. The offensive line put up some good protection.”

On the performance of the offensive…
“We make good plays. We moved the pocket around a little bit. We made some good catches. The line was playing well. We tried to keep them off balance and I felt that we did that tonight.”

DT Robert Dinwiddie

On performance of the defense…
“I thought LSU had a good team. I think our defense played well. Our offense, I think they did some things on defense that took away some of our options on offense. As far as the defensive line goes in the second half, I think they had a long pass and a punt return on us. It wasn’t necessarily sustaining drives or wearing us out. The first half we had a turnover and they had a 20-yard drive and a field goal. I do not think that reflects poorly upon on our defense. I think our D-line played well. Especially Matt Clay, Jovan Haye and Ralf McKenzie. Those guys stepped up and played a heck of a game.”

On stopping LSU offensively…
“I do not think we were confusing them. I think guys were playing their assignments, doing fundamentally well. I think LSU was having trouble executing their offense. I think that they have all the potential in the world to be a great team, but they have to execute as well as we do.”