LSU rolls Purdue, 63-7, in record-setting Citrus Bowl pleasure cruise
LSU relied on a wide receiver to complete touchdown passes in its bowl game for the second straight year Monday.
A program and roster in overhaul called Jontre Kirklin into duty by necessity to close out the 2021 season.
Just 363 days later, Malik Nabers' toss to quarterback Jayden Daniels was part of the Tigers' record-setting 63-7 Disney-cruise through Purdue (8-6) in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla.
The 56-point margin of victory tied the national record for largest margin of victory in a bowl game and shattered the program record previously achieved in a 40-3 route of Miami in the 2005 Peach Bowl.
Sixty-three points also tied the program record Heisman quarterback Joe Burrow and company hung on Oklahoma in the 2019 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl national semifinal.
LSU (10-4) scored the first 49 points with touchdowns on six straight drives to secure its 10th victory in coach Brian Kelly's first season at the helm.
The Tigers racked up 594 yards of total offense — 369 passing and 225 rushing — and saw seven different players reach the end zone.
After a punt the first possession, veteran running backs John Emery Jr. and Noah Cain capped the next two, of 63 and 67 yards, with 1- and 9-yard scores, respectively.
And LSU was off to the races.
Daniels and redshirt freshman Garrett Nussmeier split the first nine possessions — with six different players scored in the process — before passing the baton to true freshman Walker Howard for the fourth quarter.
Regardless of which quarterback was throwing (or catching) the passes, Nabers was the clear catalyst with nine receptions for 163 yards, including a 75-yard jet sweep from Nussmeier winding and dashing all the way to the end zone.
The Comeaux and Southside highs product also completed two pass attempts: a 45-yard bomb to junior Kyren Lacy and a 5-yard touchdown to Daniels.
LSU became the first team in 25 years to have three different players complete touchdown passes in a bowl game, according to the ABC broadcast.
Daniels completed 12 of 17 passes for 139 yards, including a 32-yard touchdown pass-and-run to freshman tight end Mason Taylor, and led the team with 67 rushing yards on six attempts.
Taylor finished with five catches for 88 yards, an impressive performance in his own right among the highest-ever totals by a Tigers tight end.
Nussmeier completed 11 of his 15 attempts for 173 yards, two scores and an interception.
Cain added 58 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries, and Emery had 52 yards and a score on seven attempts.
And sophomore Derrick Davis Jr. carried six times for 30 yards and another score on the ground.
Lacy caught two passes for 57 yards, and Brian Thomas Jr. caught four balls for 31 yards and a touchdown from Nussmeier.
Howard completed two of four passes for 7 yards and rushed three times for 17 yards.
Seniors Jarrick Bernard-Converse and Greg Brooks Jr. each snatched their second interceptions of the season.
Sophomore safety Major Burns led the defense with six tackles and a pass breakup.
And sophomore transfer Frank "Quad" Wilson IV, the son of assistant coach Frank Wilson III, punctuated the victory with a 99-yard pick-six on his first interception for the program he grew up watching.