Baton Rouge, LA—–After a season opener loss to Florida State, LSU seems to be back on track and moving forward.
LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels went 18 for 24 for 269 yards and threw a career-high five touchdown passes, all in the first half, leading No. 14 LSU in a 72-10 thrashing of Grambling on Saturday night.
The Tigers (1-1) scored touchdowns on its first 10 possessions and just moved the ball up and down the field at will.
LSU drove down the field on its opening drive, capping off an eight play, 77-yard drive with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Daniels to Brian Thomas Jr. at the 12:51 mark.
GSU (0-2) found the end zone on a 13-yard pass from Myles Crawley to JR Waters, making it 7-7 with 9:15 to go in the first quarter.
“We played the game the right way,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said. “We started fast, built great momentum and asserted our will in the third quarter and finished it off the right way. Winning is hard regardless of the competition. They are a difficult team to defend.
“To have 10 straight possessions and score in this game when somebody doesn’t want you to score is really hard. You have to execute at a very high level. That doesn’t happen very often and I’ve been doing this for over 30 years. You have to have focus, attention to detail and playmakers.”
Daniels hit Malik Nabors for his third touchdown early in the second quarter, Grambling kicker Tanner Rinkler shanked a 23-yard field goal try and LSU scored touchdowns on three consecutive possessions to seal the game away.
Logan Diggs scored on a 3-yard jaunt and Daniels hit Thomas with a 10-yard touchdown dime. He also connected with Kyren Lacy with a 3-yard scoring pass that gave LSU a 42-10 lead.
Crawley went 14-of-25 for 148 yards with a touchdown and an interception for Grambling.
LSU’s 72-point outburst was its highest scoring game since a seven overtime loss to Texas A&M in 2018.
One of the bright spots for Grambling was the first-half performance of sophomore running back Chance Williams, who had seven carries for 106 yards and made the game competitive in the opening minutes.
Backup Garrett Nussmeier replaced Daniels at the start of the second half. The five touchdown passes by Daniels were the most for an LSU quarterback in a game since Max Johnson did it against Central Michigan in 2021.
“It’s hard to take issue with five touchdown passes, but I would say in the huddle of Jayden, myself, assistant coaches Joe Sloan and Mike Denbrock, he left some throws out there that we need to get better at. We are pleased, we aren’t going to be ungrateful for the things we accomplished tonight, but we have some work to do.”
Grambling: The legendary HBCU program that has won 15 Black College National Championships and 25 SWAC titles, Grambling made its first trip to Tiger Stadium and kept the game close early, scoring on its first drive and trailing only 14-10 at the end of the first quarter but LSU was just too physical up front.
UP NEXT:
Grambling: Hosts Florida Memorial on Saturday.
LSU: Travels to Starkville to take on Mississippi State on Saturday in its conference opener.
