Sam Leavitt leads LSU to 63-14 victory over McNeese State

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Sam Leavitt threw for 173 yards and three touchdowns and No. 11 LSU beat McNeese State 63-14 on Saturday night.

Harlem Berry ran for 125 yards and a touch down and Stacy Gage added 110 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, as the Tigers rolled to 731 yards of total offense against their Football Championship Subdivision foe — the second-most in one game in school history and the most since 2023. The 102 offensive plays run by LSU is a school record.

The defense got things started for LSU (4-1) when Tamarcus Cooley intercepted Jake Strong on McNeese State’s first possession. Nine plays later, Dilin Jones scored from a yard out to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead.

Three consecutive three-and-outs by the Tigers defense helped LSU put the game out of reach early in the second quarter. Leavitt had a 1-yard touchdown pass to Roman Mothershed and a 6-yard touchdown pass to Corey Barber Jr. sandwiched around a 3-yard touchdown run by Landen Clark to make it 28-0.

Barber finished the game with six catches for 76 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Leavitt completed 18 of 23 passes.

LSU dominated the first half, outgaining the Cowboys (2-4) 347-31. McNeese State’s offense crossed midfield only once during the first half.

Freshman defensive tackle Deuce Geralds even got in on the scoring for the Tigers, scoring from a yard out on a direct snap on LSU’s first possession of the second half to make it 42-0.

Gage scored on runs of 46 and 39 yards in the second half.

The Cowboys got on the board with under five minutes to go in the third quarter on a 43-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Brady Barrier to Jamaal Levi to make it 49-7. He added a 64-yard touchdown run on the ensuing possession to make it 49-14.

McNeese State: The Cowboys weren’t expected to contend in the game against the Tigers and it was evident from the opening possession. Levi’s two touchdowns did give McNeese State its most points scored in the brief three-game history of the series, surpassing the 10 points they scored in 2010.

LSU: Still not 100% because of a nagging hamstring injury, Leavitt was effective in the pocket, completing 10 of his first 12 passes. The Tigers also got plenty of work for backup quarterback Clark, who played a majority of the third quarter.

McNeese State travels to Northwestern State on Oct. 17.

LSU travels to Kentucky next Saturday.

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