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LSU, Joe Burrow pull away from Northwestern State for historic 65-14 win


LSU left its fans restless early Saturday — particularly on defense.

But, by the third quarter, the No. 4 Tigers (3-0) had managed to quickly pull away toward an eventual 65-14 defeat of Northwestern State (0-3) behind another stellar performance by quarterback Joe Burrow.

"You've gotta give credit to them — they played their tails off in the first half, and we kinda weren't ready for it," Burrow said. "And we just came in at halftime, refocused, made some adjustments and did what we needed to."

LSU hadn't scored as many points in regulation since hanging 70 on Arkansas State in 1991.

The Tigers also tallied 77 and 66 points in September and November games vs. Rice and Wyoming, respectively, during a 1977 season in which current offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger was among the quarterbacks.

And Burrow and company scored 72 in last season's seven-overtime loss at Texas A&M.

"Burrow (was) outstanding," coach Ed Orgeron said. "He didn't want to come out. He told me, 'Coach, I don't wanna come out.' But we had to. There was no choice, but to take him out and get him ready. He had a minor injury this week. I told him on Wednesday he didn't have to practice, but he wanted to practice. The guy wants to play, man. He's a winner."

The senior passer led three straight touchdown drives to start the second half and stretch a 10-point advantage out to 30.

He exited with a 44-14 lead after completing 21 of his 24 attempts (87.5 percent) for 373 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, while rushing seven times for another 30 yards and one score.

The performance marked the second straight — and third in the past four games, dating back to January's bowl game against Central Florida — in which Burrow supplied a passing total among the top eight in program history.

Saturday's 373 ranks No. 8 all-time, behind Rohan Davey's 528 at Alabama in 2001 and Burrow's 471 last week at Texas.

He has now completed 75 of his 90 passes (83.3 percent) this season for 1,122 yards, 11 touchdowns and two interceptions.

And once again, Burrow did so by getting a slew of teammates involved.

"He's got 1,000 (yards)? And this is the third game?" junior wide receiver Justin Jefferson said. "I don't know how many yards he's gonna finish out with, but I'm definitely excited for him. He's definitely gonna set records this year. Has to be. We've just got to keep working on our opponents and just gotta keep eating."

The contest didn't start quite so smoothly all around, though, in front of the 100,334 announced attendance in Tiger Stadium.

Northwestern State held the ball for nearly 11 minutes of the first quarter to claim a 7-3 lead on a 17-yard strike from Shane Eppler to fellow senior Quan Shorts for the program's first-ever touchdown in the series.

LSU answered with touchdown drives of 69 and 77 yards, capped by a 4-yard run by Clyde Edwards-Helaire and 14 yard pass from Burrow to Terrace Marshall Jr. for a 17-7 lead.

But the Demons continued to match the Tigers' firepower until the final minutes of the half.

Eppler marched Northwestern State six plays and 75 yards downfield in response, including the 26-yard touchdown pass to Calvary Baptist product David Fitzwater.

But drawing back to within 17-14 was as close as the visitors from Natchitoches would get the rest of the way.

"I pretty much knew they were gonna come out there and give it their all," sophomore linebacker Damone Clark said. "I give those guys props. We had our head down, and they hit us in the mouth. But we made our corrections, and we shut 'em out."

Burrow and company went 70 yards on the next six plays to claim a 24-14 lead on a 3-yard Edwards-Helaire run.

The Tigers took that edge into the locker room and quickly took a stranglehold on the contest in the second half with a much more complete performance.

""Obviously the first quarter we came out a little flat, they hit us in the mouth," Clark said. "But we went in at halftime, made the adjustments we had to make, communicated and shut 'em out in the second half.

"We had a lot of blown coverages, guys not communicating, but we came in and fixed it."

LSU's defense allowed just 15 total yards on Northwestern State's first three possessions of the half, a trio of three-and-outs.

And the offense needed just 15 offensive plays and 6:34 of possession to run up their 185 yards, three touchdowns, 20 total points and 44-14 lead.

"You know, I felt confident," Orgeron said. "I felt confident that we were going to go out there and just keep on chopping away, chopping away. I didn't really raise my voice that much at halftime. I think it was more in the fourth quarter. I wanted to make sure we played for 60 minutes."

Burrow punctuated the first drive himself with a 5-yard keeper, then found Marshall again from 6 yards out to take advantage of a 33-yard field provided by an impressive freshman Derek Stingley Jr. punt return.

Freshman running back John Emery, from Destrehan, closed out the last of the three drives with the first touchdown of his career, a 4-yarder, to allow Burrow and many of the starters some early rest.

But sophomore quarterback Myles Brennan kept the rout going with a 55-yard drive and 1-yard run by freshman running back Tyrion Davis-Price for the first score of the former Southern Lab star's career.

The Tigers outscored the Demons, 27-0, in the third quarter in all to take a 51-14 lead into the final period.

"Offensively, we couldn't get anything sustained," Northwestern State coach Brad Laird said. "In the first half, I don't know if we punted in the first three or four drives. Second half we had three-and-outs. Some of the plays we made in the first half we didn't make in the second half."

And another highly touted freshman, wide receiver Trey Palmer from Kentwood, found the end zone for the first time in his career with a 54-yard punt return to push the margin to 58-14.

Davis-Price added another 2-yard score in the final minutes to push LSU further into the history books yet again.

Jefferson led the Tigers with five catches for 124 yards.

Marshall caught six balls for 75 yards and two touchdowns.

Senior tight end Stephen Sullivan was Burrow's favorite target early, with four catches for 51 yards, and junior receiver Jontre Kirklin took over late with two catches for 75 yards to help set up the Emery touchdown.

Redshirt freshman Jaray Jenkins finished with four catches for 32 yards, and senior Derrick Dillon added three for 41.

Freshman receiver Devonta Lee and junior tight end Tory Carter also caught passes, giving the Tigers now 19 different receivers to have done so on the season.

Edwards-Helaire led the rushing attack with 50 yards and two scores on 13 attempts.

"He came in, and he said, 'Everybody eats.'" Sullivan said. "I'm pretty sure y'all heard that a lot. It really is like that. You see Marshall had some catches, 'Jets' (Jefferson) had some catches, Derrick Dillon, Jaray, everybody. So when he says, 'Everybody eats,' it's true."

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