BATON ROUGE — Jayden Daniels threw for a career-high five touchdown passes as LSU cruised to a 72-10 home victory over Grambling State on Saturday night. It was the first meeting between the two historic in-state football programs.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
LSU wasted little very time to get on the scoreboard.
The Tigers went 77 plays in eight plays as Daniels completed a 21-yard pass to Kyren Lacy and then capped off the drive with a 26-yard touchdown strike to Brian Thomas Jr.
Grambling responded as Myles Crawley led his offense on a seven-play, 83-yard touchdown drive. Crawley completed 4-of-5 passes for 65 yards and finished off the drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass to JR Waters.
LSU quickly answered as the Tigers needed less than a minute to score again, this time with a 47-yard touchdown from Daniels to Chris Hilton Jr.
Grambling’s offense took the field, drove 80 yards and ate 5:59 off the clock. The drive stalled and the visiting Tigers had to settle for a 23-yard field goal by Tanner Rinker.
LSU’s offense scored on its third straight drive to start the game, a seven-play, 69-yard drive which ended early in the second quarter and featured Daniels throwing a seven-yard touchdown to Malik Nabors.
Grambling’s offense took the field and went 69 yards on 12 plays, aided by a defensive pass interference call on Denver Harris, but LSU’s defense buckled down in the red zone. Grambling’s Rinker attempted a 23-yard field goal but missed it.
LSU scored yet again with an efficient nine-play, 80-yard drive and Logan Diggs powered his way into the end zone from three yards out.
After a quick three-and-out by Grambling, LSU put together its fifth touchdown drive of the night as the Tigers needed only nine players to go 70 yards. Daniels found Thomas Jr. in the end zone for a second time, this time for a 10-yard touchdown.
LSU added its sixth touchdown drive of the first half as Daniels threw a three-yard touchdown pass to Lacy with one second left on the clock before the break.
LSU would add to its massive lead with a few more scoring drives in the second half, which included a one-yard touchdown run by backup quarterback Garrett Nussmeier and a five-yard touchdown run by Kaleb Jackson — both in the third quarter.
LSU would tack on another touchdown run by Jackson — this time from three yards out — early in the fourth, and then a one-yard rushing score by Noah Cain and then capped it all with a safety.
BIG NUMBER: 88 yards
Grambling’s first three offensive drives of the game went for 83, 80 and 69 yards. LSU’s defense gave up 232 yards on those drives but it did manage to hold Grambling to one touchdown, one made field goal and one missed field goal. LSU’s defense would then hold Grambling to 88 yards the rest of the game, while forcing five punts, one interception, a forced fumble and a safety.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: JAYDEN DANIELS
LSU’s Daniels carved up Grambling’s defense as he completed 18-of-24 passes for 269 yards and a career high five passing touchdowns — all of which came in the first half of Saturday night’s game.
UP NEXT: LSU (1-1) will open SEC play next Saturday at Mississippi State. Pregame is set for 9 a.m. and kickoff is set for 11 a.m. and you can listen to it all on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette and 104.1 Lake Charles.