by Chris Macaluso
Special to LSUsports.net
BATON ROUGE — LSU needed a break from the stresses and the strains of heart-breaking and heart-pounding Southeastern Conference football games. Unfortunately for the players from the University of North Texas Saturday in Tiger Stadium, they embodied that break.
LSU floored the Mean Green 56-3 in front of 88,887 fans who were forced to wait nearly two months for the rout that was supposed to be this season’s first game. Instead the moderately amused fans filed in Saturday after the game was shoved back to Halloween by the ghoulish Hurricane Katrina.
The win advanced the seventh-ranked Tigers’ record to 6-1 overall in advance of another practice round next week against Appalachian State. LSU then travels to Alabama for the showdown that should decide the SEC Western Division. North Texas fell to 2-5 with the loss and remained 2-1 in the Sun Belt Conference.
The Tigers scored enough points in the game’s first three minutes to salt away the win. But the pile on started early and continued well into the second half as a host of purple and gold clad players used the mismatch as an opportunity to see their first significant playing time of the season.
Most notable of the Tiger reserves was quarterback Matt Flynn, who entered the game early in the fourth quarter and completed the first pass he threw to Xavier Carter for a 49-yard touchdown. Flynn threw two more touchdown passes before the game’s end and finished a perfect 7-7 passing for 139 yards.
His numbers added to JaMarcus Russell‘s 17 completions in 21 attempts for 244 yards and one touchdown helped the Tigers eclipse North Texas’ passing yards 383-101. In all, LSU amassed 566 yards of offense against the out-manned Mean Green. Eight Tigers recorded rushing stats, the best of the pack being Justin Vincent‘s 12-carry, 70-yard, one touchdown effort.
North Texas’ stat sheet was highlighted by tailback Jamario Thomas’ 83 yards on 26 carries.
The Tigers scored 3:20 into the contest when Joseph Addai crossed the goal line from 3-yards out, ending a seven-play, 69-yard drive. Russell and receiver Craig Davis were very friendly during the swift scoring possession with the quarterback finding the receiver twice for a combined 40 yards.
North Texas replied by moving the ball across midfield thanks in large part to a 16-yard, 3rd-down run by tailback Patrick Cobbs. A 15-yard personal foul penalty for hitting Cobbs late along the LSU sideline added to the scamper and North Texas lined up at the Tiger 48. The drive stalled three plays later at the LSU 41. Mean Green quarterback Daniel Meager called for the 4th-down snap from the shotgun, but quick-kicked the ball out of bounds at the LSU 27 instead of trying for a first down on the 4th-and 3 play.
LSU’s ensuing possession ended after three plays, two of which were overthrown passes well down the field intended for wide-open Tiger receivers drawing moans and groans from the sparse but partisan crowd.
After holding North Texas to just three plays on the next drive, LSU seized the chance to exercise back-up runners, Vincent and Shyrone Carey. Vincent carried the ball three times for 12 yards and caught a 10-yard pass during the drive before the two teams traded personal fouls. Then, Carey entered the game, hauled in a 13- yard catch then capped the drive two plays later with a 23-yard touchdown run. The score ended a nine-play, 71-yard drive that consumed 4:08 of the first-quarter clock and gave LSU a two-touchdown advantage.
Carey crossed the goal line again barely three minutes into the second quarter, this time from one-yard out to consummate a 42-yard, seven-play drive that put the game further out of reach for the Mean Green.
But, North Texas reeled in some of the slack on its next drive, moving the ball well and consistently because of the Thomas’ strong running. He carried the ball five times during the drive for 43 yards. The Mean Green settled in for a 1st-and-goal at the LSU 8 on the seventh play of the drive but were able to move just one yard closer to the goal line, forcing a 27-yard yard field goal attempt by Nick Bazuldua. He soon saw the ball coming back his way though, as Tiger defensive tackle Kyle Williams bulled through the protection and blocked the kick.
LSU covered the ambling football at its 36-yard line and moved rapidly toward the goal line. Six plays and 64-yards later, Russell spotted Dwayne Bowe running toward the corner of the south endzone unhampered and lofted a high-spiraling pass to the wide-open receiver for LSU’s fourth touchdown of the first half.
The Mean Green were given a second field goal chance with 10 seconds left in the half thanks to a thrown interception by Russell at the North Texas 39. Bazaldua drilled the three-pointer from 50 yards, capping the 28-yard, five-play drive that resulted from Russell’s errant throw and the visitors cut the lead at halftime to 28-3.
North Texas opened the second half by moving deep into LSU territory but was thwarted again, this time by a an interception of quarterback Daniel Meager by Craig Steltz that gave the Tigers a first down at the 35 after a 22-yard return.
But, the Tigers couldn’t respond on offense to the defensive stop. Chris Jackson missed a 47-yard field goal attempt and North Texas was given relatively good field position to start its next drive.
Again, the Mean Green moved the ball far down the field against a suddenly-sloppy Tiger defense that helped the North Texas cause with a personal foul face mask penalty on the first play of the drive. The North Texas advance traveled all the way to the Tiger 1-yard line but was turned away when a host of defenders piled up Thomas inches short of the goal line on fourth down.
LSU claimed possession standing on its goal line but quickly found breathing room thanks to a 37-yard, 2nd-down carry by Vincent. Russell found Davis across the middle of the field for 41 yards two plays later and LSU had traveled from 1-yard line to 1-yard line in five plays. Vincent gained the final yard on the next play, capping the 99-yard, six-play drive that ended with 29 seconds left in the third quarter and gave LSU a 35-3 lead.
North Texas punted on its next possession giving Tiger back-up quarterback Matt Flynn an opportunity to make the thinning crowd cheer. Flynn guided a play-action pass on the drive’s first play 49-yards to a leaping Xavier Carter who carried the catch into the north endzone. The one-play drive staked LSU to a 42-3 advantage with 13:51 remaining in the game.
Flynn continued to stretch his arm on LSU’s next possession completing a 10- yard pass to Bennie Brazell on the drive’s first play and a 40-yarder to Early Doucet on its last. The grab and run extended LSU’s lead to 49-3 with 9:55 to play and further thinned the already anemic crowd.
Flynn connected on his final touchdown, again to Doucet, this time from six-yards out with 3:32 remaining to extend the lead to 56-3.
LSU vs. North Texas
Oct. 29, 2005 – Tiger Stadium
Game Notes
Team Notes
1. LSU’s game captains are 5 Skyler Green, 30 LaRon Landry, 41 Chris Jackson and 76 Andrew Whitworth.
2. North Texas won the toss and deferred to the second half. LSU received the opening kickoff.
3. Tigers extending their consecutive starts’ streak today were: OT Andrew Whitworth (46), FS LaRon Landry (27) and DT Kyle Williams (27), LB Cameron Vaughn (19) and SS Jessie Daniels (19).
4. LSU has outscored its opponents 44-3 in the first quarter since the game at Vanderbilt on Oct. 8. That stat includes the 9-3 score in the opening quarter at Vanderbilt and the 14-0 tonight.
5. LSU blocked North Texas’ 24-yard field goal attempt mid-way through the second quarter. The blocked FG was the second of the season for the Tigers (blocked a FG attempt at Arizona State).
6. LSU had four rushing touchdowns tonight, marking the first time the Tigers have done so since last year’s Mississippi State game.
7. LSU’s 49-yard touchdown pass from Matt Flynn to Xavier Carter early in the fourth quarter was the Tigers’ longest touchdown pass of the season. Ironically, it was the longest touchdown pass by LSU since Flynn connected with Carter for 67 yards last season versus Mississippi State (Sept. 25).
8. LSU’s 383 passing yards marks a season high and are the most by the team since the 2002 Sugar Bowl versus Illinois. The Tigers accumulated 444 yards through the air against the Illini.
9. LSU’s streak of consecutive games with a sack ended at 43 games. The last time LSU did not record a sack in a game was against The Citadel on on Sept. 7, 2002.
10. LSU’s 566 total yards are the most by the team since racking up 599 yards versus Mississippi State last season (Sept. 25).
11. LSU scored four times through the air tonight, its most passing touchdowns since recording four versus Arkansas on Nov. 28, 2003.
12. LSU won its 11th straight game against non-conference opponents in the regular season.
13. With its sixth win of the season, LSU is bowl eligible for the sixth straight year.
14. The Tigers improved to 3-0 all-time against North Texas.
15. A total of 12 LSU players caught passes tonight, while a total of 75 Tigers saw action in the game.
16. The 56-3 margin of victory ties a career-high for Les Miles in his coaching career. Miles’ largest margin of victory at Oklahoma State was a 56-3 thrashing of UL-Lafayette on Oct. 2, 2003.
17. Tonight’s 53-point margin of victory is the most by an LSU team since defeating Western Carolina, 58-0, on Sept. 2, 2000.
Individual Notes
18. OT Andrew Whitworth started his 46th straight game, moving the senior closer to third-place on LSU’s all-time starts list. The career record is held by Jerel Myers and Rodney Reed with 48 starts.
19. WR Craig Davis pulled in a pass on LSU’s first possession of the game early into the first quarter to extend his consecutive games with a reception streak to 17 (games in which he has played).
a. Davis’ 97 receiving yards are a career-high. The previous best was 93 against Mississippi State in 2004.
20. RB Joseph Addai‘s 3-yard touchdown run with 11:32 left in the first quarter was the senior’s seventh of the season and the 16th of his career.
21. DE Ryan Willis made the first start of his career in tonight’s game. He is the ninth different first-time starter for the Tigers this season.
22. RB Shyrone Carey‘s 23-yard touchdown run with 2:06 left in the first half was his first of the season and his first since the Arkansas game last season.
a. Carey scored his second rushing touchdown of the game on a 1-yard run with 11:47 left in the second quarter.
b. Tonight marks the second career multi-touchdown game of Carey’s career. His other was at Mississippi State in 2003.
23. LB E.J. Kuale, injured in August, made his first appearance of the season, early in the second quarter.
24. WR Dwayne Bowe pulled in a 15-yard touchdown pass from QB JaMarcus Russell with 4:24 left in the second quarter. Bowe’s touchdown was his sixth of the season and marks the fifth straight game with a touchdown reception for the junior.
a. Bowe’s five-game touchdown reception streak is the longest by a Tiger since Michael Clayton pulled in at least one score in six straight games during the 2003 season.
25. QB JaMarcus Russell tossed a 15-yard touchdown pass to WR Dwayne Bowe with 4:24 left in the second quarter. The pass was the sophomore QB’s ninth touchdown of the season and 18th of his career.
26. With a tackle in the first half, both DT Kyle Williams and FS LaRon Landry extended their tackles in consecutive games streak. They each have now made a tackle in 33 straight games.
27. S Craig Steltz intercepted a North Texas pass early in the third quarter for the first of his career.
28. RB Justin Vincent‘s 37-yard run late in the third quarter was his longest rush since the 64-yard run against Oklahoma in the 2004 Sugar Bowl.
a. Vincent scored his first touchdown of the season on a 1-yard run with 29.3 left in the third quarter. The score was his first since the Arkansas State game last season.
29. QB Matt Flynn tossed a 49-yard touchdown pass to WR Xavier Carter with 13:51 left in the fourth quarter. The score was Flynn’s first of the season and Carter’s first receiving touchdown of the season.
a. The touchdown pass was Flynn’s second of his career, both coming to Carter (vs. Mississippi State last season). Carter has pulled in two touchdowns in his career (both from Flynn).
b. Flynn then hit Early Doucet for a 40-yard touchdown with 9:55 left in the fourth quarter for his third touchdown of his career.
c. Flynn finished the game with career-highs in completions (7), passing yards (139) and touchdowns (3).
d. Flynn’s three touchdown passes are the most by an LSU quarterback since Matt Mauck tossed four against Arkansas on Nov. 28, 2003.
30. WR Early Doucet pulled in his fifth career touchdown and third of the season with 9:55 left in the fourth quarter on a 40-yard pass from Matt Flynn. Doucet late hauled in his sixth career touchdown with 3:32 left in the contest, a six-yard strike from Flynn again.
a. Doucet recorded the first two touchdown game of his career.
31. TE Mit Cole pulled down the first reception of his career with 7:58 left in the fourth quarter.
North Texas Game Notes
- Sophomore linebacker Brandon Monroe did not start due to a knee injury.
- The North Texas defense allowed a touchdown on LSU’s opening drive, which was the first time this year an opponent had scored a touchdown against the Mean Green on their first possession. In six opening drives against the Mean Green this year, Kansas State has been the only team to score and it was held to a field goal.
- The North Texas offense drove into LSU territory on its first drive of the game. Last week against Louisiana Tech, the Mean Green only advanced into opponent territory four times in the game.
- Wide receiver Johnny Quinn caught a pass in the first quarter to extend his streak to 32 consecutive games with at least one reception. Quinn has caught a pass in every game he has played at North Texas.
- The Mean Green has been outscored by its opponents 41-2 in the first quarter this season, and 129-14 in the first half.
- Nick Bazaldua’s 50-yard field goal in the second quarter was a season long and was only the 16th time in school history that a Mean Green kicker has hit a 50 yarder. It was the second 50+ yarder of Bazaldua’s career. Last season, he hit a career-long 51-yard field goal.
- Aaron Weathers recorded his second interception of the season, a team high, in the second quarter.
- The crowd of 88,887 is the largest to ever see a North Texas football game. The previous high was set in the 2004 season opener at Texas with 82,956 in attendance.
LSU HEAD COACH LES MILES
Opening Statement…
“I have to give credit to North Texas. I thought that their running backs are very talented guys, and they ran the football better than I thought they would. We came and did what we needed to do today. We won. We played a lot of guys. I don’t necessarily want to go into a game where I’m ahead and throw the football as much as I did. Matt Flynn is our second team quarterback and a guy that needs to get a lot of snaps, and we’re throwing the ball to Xavier Carter, Bennie Brazell and some guys that are not necessarily our first line guys. We had to do it for the best of our football team for the improvement and the work on those guys who will play significant snaps the remainder of the year. We had to get those guys in and play, not just call plays that are just basic runs. I thought the defense played well in spots. We need to tackle more crisply. We bounced off that running back way too much. We were penalized a little too much more than I want to be penalized. We’ll have to fix that. JaMarcus (Russell) was sharp for most of the night except for the one pick in the two-minute drill that led to their three points. Special teams played a significant role — a blocked field goal — and really played well most of the evening. It’s what we needed. It’s a victory. The Tigers win. We look forward to our next opponent — Appalachian State.”
On Joseph Addai‘s status…
“He’s fine. He got nicked early on, and we chose not to play him any further. We don’t feel like it’s going to stop him from playing next week.”
On the play of Justin Vincent and Shyrone Carey…
“We needed to get those guys established as players. Both played well in my mind. I like Shyrone Carey in sure-handed punt returns. He fair caught a couple of balls, but he fielded a couple of difficult balls. Shyrone and Justin Vincent will have to be figured strongly in the stretch run.”
LSU DEFENSIVE PLAYER QUOTES
LB E. J. Kuale
On tonight’s win…
“It was a good win for the team. It was a real good win for our second team and third team because they got a chance to get in the game. It was a real good win for our team because we prepared for North Texas like they were the No. 1 team in the country, so we’re going to prepare for Appalachian State like they are the No. 1 team in the country. All in all it was a good week.”
On being back on the field…
“I’ve been anxious just watching game-by-game, and I finally got a chance to play. Even though I didn’t play much, they’re slowly working me back in so I’ll be ready for the Alabama game, but it felt real good.”
On playing North Texas and Appalachian State back to back…
“I think it’s no problem. When playing a team like Appalachian State that is a Division I-AA team we can’t slip up because after that we have a team like Alabama to go. Not slipping up against Appalachian State will make us ready for Alabama. Really, if you prepare like you are playing the No. 1 team every week then it doesn’t matter who you play week to week.”
On tonight’s game…
“Coach Miles told us to just prepare as if we’re going play another game. You can’t look forward, we take the season step-by-step and game-by-game and just prepare to have a victory each game.”
On whether it matters who your play…
“He (Coach Miles) gave us a speech today about Tigers eating. He said it doesn’t matter if you’re going eat Bambi or a water buffalo the Tigers are going to eat something.”
On if this team is getting better each week…
“I think we are. Each week going out there we have a couple of things we need to brush up on defense, but for the most part everyone is getting better.”
LSU Offensive Player Quotes
On the importance of the win…
“These kinds of games are real good because they give the team confidence and make everything smoother for the next week.”
On being ready for Appalachian State…
“We go by the motto ‘Who’s next.’ Who ever we play, we’re looking to give them the best effort we can give them. Who ever we play next that’s who we’re looking to beat up on.”
On improving week to week…
“We’ve got a hard stretch coming up. We’re just trying to get better and better as a team so that win the big competition comes we’ll be ready. The most important step is the next step so we’ve got to get better and better week in and week out.”
WR Early Doucet
On the North Texas win…
“Coming off of two big games against a team like North Texas there is a chance for you to come out a little lackadaisical. We knew they had two great running backs. We just had to come out here and treat it like any other game.”
On preparing for Appalachian State…
“We try not to underestimate our opponents. We have respect for all of our opponents and we just want to come out and play hard from the first quarter through the fourth quarter.”
On the team’s improvement…
“I think the team is starting to come together. It’s been a rough start, but we’re starting to come around. I kind of think it is the right time for us to start peaking. We just want to keep getting better in all phases of the game.”
QB Matt Flynn
On beating North Texas…
“Every win is win a good win for the Tigers. It was a lot of fun to get in there toward the end. We were just trying not to loose anything form what the first offense was doing and I think we were able to move the ball well.”
On not overlooking Appalachian State…
“It’s another home game in Tiger Stadium. We prepare for every team the same. We are going to practice the same. The schedule is going to stay the same. We got improve every week and everyday. For Appalachian State we’ve got to play well because they’re a good ball club.”
On his three touchdown passes…
“It was fun. It was a lot of fun to get out there and contribute. It was fun to throw the ball a little bit and get out there and spread it around.”
North Texas Head Coach Darrell Dickey
Opening statement
“We dug ourselves a hole, and couldn’t fall out of it. And when you do that against good football teams you are going to pay the price, which we obviously did tonight. At halftime it was twenty-eight to three, we had thrown the ball decently for us but we didn’t get much out of it, we had a blocked field goal, and things like that. We would have had to play a lot better tonight to come out of here with a chance, and we didn’t get it done.”
On the offense’s performance…
“We are still a working progress. We are still not even close to what we need to be. A lot of that has to do with how talented they are defensively. We got four games left, that’s what I told the players, and we are going to have to make some drastic improvement very quickly for us to be able to get done what we need to get done. Tonight we were not- we were in over our heads. These guys are really good, and they played very well and we didn’t play as well – we played hard, I have got to give our players credit for that, we played very hard we just didn’t make plays to stay in the game.”
NORTH TEXAS OFFENSIVE PLAYERS QUOTES
QB DANIEL MEAGAR
On his first time to play in Tiger Stadium…
“It was the coolest place to play. It was just so big. The fans are really into the game and it was really cool.”
On the pace of the game…
“Things happened so fast on the field, how fast LSU played and how fast they ran around. Hopefully it will carry over and help you play with a little different pace against another team.”
On preparing for next week…
“We just got to prepare for anything and get ready for the next opponent. We’ve got to win now, in our conference games so we can have a winning season.”
On not scoring tonight…
“It’s real disappointing. Their defense did a great job of keeping us out and we didn’t do a good enough job getting into the endzone.”
On North Texas’ running backs…
“I think they did really well. You have Jamario (Thomas) picking up good chunks of yardage there and Patrick (Cobbs) doing what Patrick does, playing with aggression. We ran the ball pretty good tonight.”