BATON ROUGE — LSU’s rush defense continues to be one of the best in the nation as the Tigers lead the Southeastern Conference and rank second nationally by allowing only 62.5 yards on the ground per contest.
The Tigers jumped from ninth to second in the nation in rushing defense on Sunday a day after LSU played its best all-around defensive game of the season. The Tigers limited Vanderbilt to only 25 yards rushing and just 138 yards of total offense. Vanderbilt entered the LSU game ranked first in the SEC in passing offense and second in the league in total offense.
“I thought that our defense stymied them all day, and really played extremely well,” LSU coach Les Miles said.
The NCAA released its weekly statistics on Sunday and the Tigers are also among the best in the nation in punt return average (7th at 17.3 yards per return), net punting (8th at 39.5 net yards per punt), scoring defense (24th at 18.5 points per game), scoring offense (27th at 33.2 points per game) and total defense (28th at 311.8 yards per game).
In four games, the Tigers have allowed just 250 yards rushing and only three rushing touchdowns.
For the second time this year the Tiger defense scored as LSU recorded a first quarter safety followed by a 22-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Ali Highsmith late in the fourth quarter.
Individually, running back Joseph Addai ranks second in the SEC and 26th in the nation in yards per game with 95.2 per contest. Through four games, Addai has rushed for 381 yards and a league-high five touchdowns.
Skyler Green ranks second in the SEC and 14th in the nation in punt returns, averaging 15.5 yards per return. Green is also fourth in the SEC and 35th in the nation in all-purpose yards with a 133.0 per game average.