Tigers are the cheesiest by 56 points in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl

It was a bowl game script no one could write more outlandishly optimistic for the winning team.

LSU cornerback Greg Brooks Jr. starts the 15th ranked Tigers’ 63-7 Cheez-It Citrus Bowl Monday afternoon beatdown of Purdue celebrating his interception by hugging a large Cheez-It mascot, getting an excessive celebration penalty and drawing the ire of his head coach Brian Kelly.

“He was fussing at me,” Brooks said of Kelly.

After the season-long diva drama of Tigers’ wide receiver Kayshon Boutte concluded last Wednesday with his announcement he’s turning pro, fellow WR Malik Nabers wins Citrus Bowl MVP honors by catching 9 passes for 163 yards and a TD and completing 2 of 2 passes for 50 yards and a TD.

“Today was destined for me to have an amazing game,” Nabers said. “My coaches put me in different positions.”

Three LSU quarterbacks – starter Jayden Daniels and reserves Garrett Nussmeier and Walker Howard – combine for eight TD scoring drives averaging 65.5 yards. Daniels and Nussmeier engineers four and three TDs drives respectively. Howard guides one TD possession.

“I absolutely believe all three quarterbacks are going to be with us (in spring practice),” said Kelly, who ended his first season guiding the Tigers at 10-4.

Finally, walk-on Quad Wilson, a 5-9, 164-pound sophomore cornerback who’s the son of LSU running backs coach Frank Wilson and who serves as a Tigers’ scout team player, plucks a deflected Purdue pass in the shadow of the Boilermakers’ goal line and returns it 99 yards for a touchdown with 40 seconds left in LSU’s 29th bowl win in history.

“You look for guys who usually don’t see the field to get in the game and make plays,” LSU cornerback Jarrick Bernard-Converse said. “And to see a play like that, it’s just unreal.”

What was real was the Tigers, a 15-point favorite, were destined to beat the Boilermakers like a rented mule. Purdue was missing its starting quarterback, its two top receivers, its best cornerback (all opt-outs) and its head coach who left to coach his alma mater Louisville.

LSU, which had fewer than 40 scholarship players guided by an interim coach in last January’s 42-20 Texas Bowl loss to Kansas State, knew how the Boilermakers felt.

But the Tigers, which had six starters opt out vs. Purdue, weren’t sympathetic. They did what a well-coached, focused team trying to get their 10th win of the season was supposed to do.

For the full 60 minutes in Camping World Stadium, from scoring 49 unanswered points to capping its nine-touchdown party with Wilson’s stunning coup de grace, LSU took no prisoners. It quickly and thoroughly squashed the Boilermakers in a 56-point whipping that tied the largest victory margin of any bowl game in college football history.

“We could have had any reason to not come out here and play fast,” Nabers said. “We had some time off, but we were locked into understanding our main goal was to come out here and get our 10th win.”

After the Tigers punted on their first offensive series, they scored on five consecutive possessions while Purdue crossed midfield just twice in the first three quarters.

By time the Boilermakers scored their first TD on the third play of the fourth quarter, Kelly was doing his best to hold down the score. Howard handled all three of the Tigers’ fourth-quarter possessions.

Kelly emptied the bench. That didn’t keep LSU from scoring one last offensive TD on a 12-yard TD run by reserve running back Derrick Davis Jr.

The Tigers didn’t miss a beat on either side of the ball. LSU outgained Purdue 594 to 263 in total offense, averaging 8.5 yards on 70 snaps.

Seven different Tigers scored offensive TDs. Four LSU players completed passes, a rarity in school history. Nine Tigers caught passes. Seven LSU defenders had four or more tackles. Three Tigers intercepted passes.

Starting QB Daniels, fully recovered from an ankle injury that led him to sit out the second half of LSU’s SEC championship game loss to No. 1 Georgia, completed 12 of 17 passes for 139 yards and 1 TD and caught a 5-yard scoring pass from Nabers for the Tigers’ first team after halftime. He also was LSU's leading rusher with 67 yards on 6 carries.

Reserve QB Nussmeier, who threw for 294 yards and two TDs in the second half vs. Georgia, first entered on the third series vs. Purdue. He finished 11 of 15 for 173 yards, 2 TDs and one interception.

Not only was the Boilermakers’ defense virtually helpless stopping LSU’s offense no matter who was the quarterback, the Tigers’ defense physically pummeled Purdue QB Austin Burton.

The sixth-year senior, who stepped in as starter when previous starter Aiden O’Connell opted out of the game, completed just 12 of 24 passes for 74 yards. The best advice temporary Purdue offensive assistant and former Saints QB Drew Brees probably gave Burton was duck and run.

"We obviously thought we would do a lot better,” said Purdue interim coach Brian Brohm after the Boilermakers finished at 8-6 for the season. “We knew coming in that they (LSU) are long, they are fast and they play with speed.

“We thought we could give them a much better game than we did. That’s a very good team. They have a bright future. I look for them to keep building on this for next season.”

LSU starts the 2023 season in this same Camping World Stadium on Sept. 3 vs. Florida State. The Seminoles, who edged the Tigers 24-23 in the 2022 season opener in the Superdome, finished the year 10-3.

Kelly never looks ahead. But he made no secret as soon as his team received the Citrus Bowl invite he badly wanted the 10th win.

“This one was really big, it was obviously a convincing win,” Kelly said. “It showed more about how our guys handled the distractions of being in a bowl game.

“And that carries on into next year where they understand that if they stick with their process and preparation, they are going to be a really good football team.”