Jayden Daniels threw three touchdown passes and ran for a fourth score in barely one quarter of action as host LSU routed FCS opponent Southern 65-17 on Saturday night.
The Tigers (1-1) bounced back from a one-point loss to Florida State six days earlier as Daniels led them to touchdowns on each of his five possessions.
Southern (1-1), playing for the first time against its cross-town rival, saw the tables turned on it a week after it scored the second-most points in school history when it routed visiting NAIA opponent Florida Memorial 86-0 in Eric Dooley’s first game as head coach.
LSU outgained the Jaguars 550-262 and took the ball away five times.
Armoni Goodwin’s 2-yard touchdown run pushed LSU’s lead to 58-0 in the third quarter before Benny McCray’s 94-yard interception return for a touchdown produced the Jaguars’ first points with 3:45 left in the period.
Goodwin scored again on a 1-yard run to increase the lead to 65-7 early in the fourth quarter.
Karl Ligon ran 1 yard for a touchdown midway through the period and Luke Jackson added a 29-yard field goal as time expired.
Daniels, who rushed for 114 yards in the season opener, completed the first possession of the game with an 18-yard touchdown run.
Josh Williams ran 5 yards for his first career touchdown before Daniels threw a 17-yard touchdown to Jack Bech.
Micah Baskerville intercepted a pass from Besean McCray, who completed 9 of 16 for 61 yards, and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown and a 28-0 lead.
After a Jaguars fumble, Daniels threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Malik Nabers before Baskerville blocked a punt, resulting in a safety that extended the lead to 37-0 at the end of the first quarter.
On the second play of the second quarter Daniels threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Brian Thomas Jr. for a 44-0 lead. Then Daniels was replaced by Garrett Nussmeier after completing 10 of 11 passes for 137 yards.
Noah Cain’s 2-yard touchdown run pushed the lead to 51-0 at halftime.
–Field Level Media