BATON ROUGE – LSU will look to build off the momentum gained from last week’s comeback win over South Carolina when the 16th-ranked Tigers host UCLA on Saturday in Tiger Stadium.
Kickoff for Saturday’s SEC-Big Ten matchup in Tiger Stadium is scheduled for 2:30 and will be televised on ABC. LSU, winners of 11 straight home games, is 2-1 overall. UCLA opened the season with a 16-13 win over Hawaii and then dropped a 42-13 decision to Indiana last week in its Big Ten debut.
Last week, the Tigers overcame a 17-0 first half deficit to win in thrilling fashion against the Gamecocks. Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier guided LSU on a late fourth quarter touchdown drive and South Carolina missed a game-tying field goal as time expired in the 36-33 LSU victory.
The win over South Carolina ran LSU’s SEC regular-season record to 13-4 under Kelly, a mark that is bettered only by Georgia (17-0) and Alabama (15-2) during that span.
“Anytime you that you are able to win a game that you are down 17 on the road against an SEC opponent, it definitely does a lot to the group in terms of the work they have done,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said. “There’s only so many times you can talk about preparation and that your preparation has put you in a good position to be successful and you’re not rewarded for it.
“I think you have to look at it from this perspective. Their work has been so good and they know they’ve prepared so well, their concern is they haven’t played they want to play. They were still able to overcome so many mistakes against a really good football team. That really built a lot of confidence in the group this week.”
Defensively, the Tigers have worked this week on eliminating big plays. Last week, South Carolina scored on runs of 75 and 66 yards. Outside of those two big plays, the Tiger defense limited the Gamecocks to 257 yards. LSU also held the Gamecocks to 3-of-12 on third-down conversions.
“If you take away the two big plays, that’s a pretty good defensive effort,” Kelly said. “Eliminating the big plays is probably the most important thing. I think we have done a really good job in so many other areas that it gets glossed over by the explosive plays, rightly so. We have been really good at forcing turnovers, creating havoc on third-down, we just have to eliminate the big plays.”
Offensively, LSU had its best this season in the run game with 132 yards and three scores. True freshman Caden Durham paced the Tiger running attack with 98 yards and two TDs, while Kaleb Jackson added 27 yards and Josh Williams 20 yards and the game-winning score.
“We were able to make some people miss and break some tackles,” Kelly said of the running game against the Gamecocks. “Caden did a really good job, Josh did a really good job. Our backs did a much better job of running through contact and making some defenders miss.”
LSU enters the UCLA game averaging 33.3 points and 406.7 total yards per game (104.3 rushing, 302.3 passing). Nussmeier leads the SEC and ranks No. 2 nationally in touchdown passes with 10, while wide receiver Kyren Lacy stands atop the league in TD receptions with five. Mason Taylor became LSU’s all-time leader for career receptions by a tight end with 91 after hauling in six passes for 58 yards against the Gamecocks.