LSU offense wakes up in 34-13 win over Jacksonville St.

Tailback Derrius Guice rushed for 155 yards and backup quarterback Danny Etling provided a huge spark in the second quarter as LSU defeated Jacksonville State 34-13 in its home opener Saturday night at Tiger Stadium.

HOW THEY SCORED

FIRST QUARTER

No Scoring

SECOND QUARTER

Jacksonville State 3, LSU 0

Score: Cade Stinnett 30-yard field goal. Time Remaining: 14:56. Drive: 33 yards in 8 plays. Time of Possession: 3:55. Key Play: On second-and-six, Eli Jenkins completed a 12-yard pass to Jamari Hester for a first down at LSU’s 19.

LSU 6, Jacksonville State 3

Score: DeSean Smith 46-yard pass from Etling. Kick blocked. Time Remaining: 12:21. Drive: 70 yards in 6 plays. Time of Possession: 2:21. Key Play: On second-and-ten, Etling completed a 12-yard pass to Darrel Williams for a first down at Jacksonville State’s 46.

LSU 13, Jacksonville State 3

Score: Guice 4-yard run. Colby Delahoussaye kick. Time Remaining: 4:14. Drive: 79 yards in 8 plays. Time of Possession: 4:28. Key Play.On third-and-eight, Al Harris committed pass interference against Malachi Dupre to give LSU a first down at Jacksonville State’s 14.

LSU 13, Jacksonville State 10

Score: Krenwick Sanders 76-yard pass from Jenkins. Stinnett kick. Time Remaining: 3:55. Drive: 76 yards in 1 play. Time of Possession: :12.

LSU 20 Jacksonville State 10

Score: Bry’Kiethon Mouton 2-yard run. Delahoussaye kick. Time Remaining: 1:07. Drive: 64 yards in 5 plays. Time of Possession: 2:43. Key Play: On second-and-seven, Guice runs for 44 yards for a first down at Jacksonville State’s 17.

LSU 27, Jacksonville State 10

Score: Tre’Davious White 60-yard punt return. Delahoussaye kick. Time Remaining: :20.

THIRD QUARTER

LSU 34, Jacksonville State 10

Score: Etling 2-yard run. Delahoussaye kick. Time Remaining: 3:00. Drive: 45 yards in 7 plays. Time of Possession: 3:09. Key Play: On first-and-ten, Guice ran 29 yards for a first down at Jacksonville State’s 16.

FOURTH QUARTER

LSU 34, Jacksonville State 13

Score: Stinnett 33-yard field goal. Time Remaining: 4:27. Drive: 57 yards in 12 plays. Time of Possession: 4:31. Key Play: on third-and-four, Jenkins completed a 19-yard pass to Anthony Johnson for a first down at LSU’s 12.

LSU OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME

Guice stepped in for the injured Leonard Fournette and carried the Tigers ground attack with 155 yards on 19 carries. Guice, who had a long run of 44 yards, averaged more than eight yards per attempt. Guice’s rushing total was six yard shy of his career high which came last season against South Carolina. Guice, who had two carries for three yards against Wisconsin, scored a touchdown on a four-yard run.

LSU DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME

Kendell Beckwith delivered the fifth double-digit tackle performance of his career. Beckwith finished with ten tackles – three unassisted. The ten tackles were one short of his career high. Beckwith was credited with 11 tackles against Ole Miss in 2014 and Mississippi State and Alabama in 2015. Beckwith also had one sack. Beckwith has a team-high 17 tackles after two games.

WHY LSU WON

After another lackluster offensive start, Tigers coach Les Miles pulled the plug on quarterback Brandon Harris. Miles went to No. 2 quarterback Etling, who led LSU on three straight touchdown drives in the second quarter. Etling was far from great, but he did instill some hope for frustrated Tigers fans.

NOTABLE TEAM STATISTICS

LSU doubled Jacksonville State in net rushing yardage – 244 to 120. The Tigers averaged 6.6 yards per running play, while the Gamecocks gained 3.5 yards per rush. . .Neither team completed 50 percent of its pass attempts. LSU was 8-of-19, while Jacksonville State was 17-of-35. . .The Tigers had a net punting average of 39.5 yards – almost seven yards better than last week against Wisconsin. . .For the second straight game, LSU lost the time-of-possession statistic. The Tigers had the ball for 27 minutes. . .LSU was 7-of-11 on third-down conversions. . .The Tigers had three sacks.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICAL LEADERS

LSU

Derrius Guice: 19 carries, 155 yards, 1 touchdown

Danny Etling: 14 attempts, 6 completions, 100 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception

Darrel Williams: 3 catches, 27 yards

Kendell Beckwith: 10 tackles, 1 sack

Lewis Neal: 7 tackles, 1½ tackles-for-loss

Arden Key: 3 tackles, 2 quarterback-hurries, 1 sack

JACKSONVILLE STATE

Eli Jenkins: 18 carries, 82 yards; 35 attempts, 17 completions, 248 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception

Jamair Hester: 3 catches, 29 yards

Marlon Bridges: 11 tackles

Darius Jackson: 5 tackles, 2 tackles-for-loss, 1 sack

NOTES

LSU is 11-0 against FCS opponents all-time. . .The Tigers have won 11 consecutive home openers dating back to 2006 when they beat Louisiana-Lafayette. . .LSU scored three offensive touchdowns in the second quarter with Etling at quarterback. Last season, the Tigers scored three touchdowns in one quarter on three occasions – South Carolina (three), Florida (four), Texas Tech (three). . .Tight end DeSean Smith caught the first touchdown pass of his career. Mouton scored a touchdown on the first carry of his career. . .White’s punt return for a touchdown was the third of his career. Only two other LSU players have three punt returns for touchdowns – Skyler Green (four), Pinky Rohm (three). . .D.J. Chark caught the first pass of his career. Justin McMillan completed the first pass of his career. The pass was caught by freshman Drake Davis. . .The three pass receptions by Williams were a career-best. Williams had caught two passes prior to Saturday’s game. . .Nick Brossette had 40 yards on five attempts – both career highs. . .Safety Rickey Jefferson made a career-high nine tackles. Inside linebacker Donnie Alexander was credited with a career-high eight tackles. . .The Tigers avoided their first 0-2 start in 25 years. LSU lost games to Georgia and Texas A&M in 1991 – Curley Hallman’s first season as coach. . .Jacksonville State’s only three regular-season losses the last three seasons have come against Power 5 conference teams – Michigan State (2014), Auburn (2015) and LSU. . .The opening kickoff was delayed about 55 minutes due to lightning strikes in the area. . .The paid attendance was 98,389. There was upwards of 25,000 no-shows.

FROM THE LOCKERROOM

Coach Les Miles’ comments: “We went a couple of series and really felt like Brandon (Harris) was not comfortable. So, we figured we would bring Danny (Etling) in. He was productive almost right way, so we decided to let him stay. He was not perfect by any means. He was 6-of-14 which is not what we want. This was his first playing time. He certainly performed well to a point. We’ve got to get Brandon comfortable and settled down. I don’t know if that will happen. It just depends on how this quarterback competition plays out.”

UP NEXT

LSU will play Mississippi State in its Southeastern Conference opener Saturday at Tiger Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. Central. The Bulldogs (1-1) defeated South Carolina 27-14 at Starkville on Saturday night. The game will be televised on ESPN or ESPN2.