No. 8 LSU leaned on a defense that kept Louisiana Tech stuck in neutral for long stretches Saturday night and rolled to a 45-14 win in Baton Rouge.
The Tigers’ front and back end both delivered. Linebacker TJ Dottery finished with nine tackles and also forced a strip-fumble, Whit Weeks added seven tackles, and edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen made his presence felt with five tackles and three sacks.
LSU will be back in action next Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT against Ole Miss at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi.
The game opened slowly for LSU after the Tigers won the toss and chose to receive, only to go three-and-out. But the defense quickly set the tone. Freshman defensive tackle Deuce Geralds helped force a stop on 3rd-and-5 from the Louisiana Tech 25, and after Eugene Wilson III’s three-yard punt return, LSU started at its own 37.
The first scoring drive was efficient if not flashy. LSU moved 52 yards in 11 plays before Alonzo Jackson Jr. sacked Leavitt at the Tech 11, forcing Scott Starzyk onto the field for a 29-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead with 6:36 left in the first quarter.
From there, LSU’s defense kept squeezing. Tech went three-and-out again, and Umanmielen added another sack, dropping Blake Baker for a one-yard loss.
Wilson III’s 27-yard punt return set LSU up at the Tech 44, and the Tigers made that field position count. Leavitt hit Jackson Harris for 42 yards, then finished the three-play, 44-yard drive with a five-yard scramble for a touchdown.
That made it 10-0 with 3:46 left in the first.
The first half turned into a turnover avalanche. On 3rd-and-3 from the Tech 30, Baker completed a pass to Eli Finley, but Dottery punched the ball loose and Tamarcus Cooley recovered at the Tech 41.
Then came the play that briefly changed the mood. With 1:53 left in the half, Leavitt’s pass to Harris was intercepted and taken 100 yards for a touchdown by Jordan McRae, trimming LSU’s lead to 10-7. The pick-six ended a nearly 10-minute Louisiana Tech drive that covered 19 plays and 74 yards.
LSU answered with another long possession, but Leavitt was intercepted again, this time by linebacker Zheric Hill, who returned it 25 yards to the Tech 30. It was LSU’s fourth turnover of the half and Leavitt’s third interception of the half.
Louisiana Tech did not record a single yard of total offense in the first half.
LSU opened the third quarter with a burst from Dilin Jones, who ripped off a 46-yard run up the middle to the Tech 2. The Bulldogs held firm from there, limiting the Tigers to a 25-yard Starzyk field goal and a 13-7 LSU lead with 10:12 remaining in the third.
The Tigers started to pull away late in the quarter. Leavitt kept it himself for a nine-yard touchdown with 4:32 left, then LSU went for two and converted when Leavitt scrambled and found Malachi Thomas in the back of the end zone. That pushed the lead to 21-7.
Soon after, DJ Pickett grabbed his first interception of the season, picking off Baker and returning it 32 yards to the Tech 11. LSU settled for another field goal, but Starzyk’s 23-yarder still made it 23-7 with 2:12 left in the third.
The fourth quarter belonged to LSU. Trey’Dez Green took a direct snap on 3rd-and-1 at the LSU 36 and powered ahead for six yards. On the next snap, Leavitt rolled out and found Eugene Wilson III for a 53-yard gain to the Tech 7, then capped the drive with a five-yard touchdown run to make it 31-7 with 13:35 to play.
That possession also gave Leavitt a career-high 329 passing yards, topping his previous best of 319 against Texas Tech in 2025. It was the third 300-yard passing game of his career, along with 319 vs. Texas Tech in 2025 and 304 at Oklahoma State in 2024.
LSU’s defense kept turning the screws. With 11:49 remaining, Deuce Geralds forced a fumble that Jhase Thomas recovered and returned 22 yards to the Tech 20. The Tigers turned that into points too, using a six-play, 20-yard drive finished off by Leavitt’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Green for a 38-7 cushion with 9:39 left.
Louisiana Tech finally found the end zone again on 3rd-and-9 from its own 33, when Baker connected with Jalen Mickens on a 67-yard touchdown to cut it to 38-14 with 8:08 remaining.
LSU closed the scoring with 1:54 left, as Landon Clark ran in a seven-yard touchdown to make it 45-14.
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