BATON ROUGE, La. — Charles Scott rushed for 114 yards and No. 15 LSU scored two touchdowns in 27 seconds late in the second quarter as the Tigers routed Tulane 35-10 on Saturday.
Scott had 84 of his yards, including a 56-yard burst, to highlight an eight-play drive that put LSU (6-2) ahead 7-0 on its opening possession. But the Tigers, coming off a disheartening 52-38 loss to Georgia that left them two games behind Alabama in the SEC West standings, went flat until the final two minutes of the half.
Brandon LaFell’s 14-yard scoring catch put LSU ahead 14-3 with 2:14 left. Then defensive end Rahim Alem stripped quarterback Joe Kemp on Tulane’s next series, and LSU’s Chris Hawkins returned the fumble 23 yards for a touchdown at the 1:47 mark.
LSU won its 17th in a row against Tulane (2-6), which has lost 37 consecutive games to ranked teams dating back to 1982, the last time it beat LSU.
The Tigers tacked on a 3-yard touchdown run by Keiland Williams early in the third quarter, but by then almost everyone in the stadium was looking ahead to next Saturday, when undefeated Alabama comes to Baton Rouge.
It will be former LSU coach Nick Saban’s first game back at Tiger Stadium as coach of the Crimson Tide. After leading LSU to the BCS national championship in 2003, he has Alabama poised for a run at the championship run in his second season as coach.
Tulane played Alabama tough in September, losing 20-6 while allowing only one defensive touchdown, but the Green Wave’s season has been wrecked by injuries.
Tulane played without leading rusher Andre Anderson, who had 864 yards before separating his shoulder last week against Rice, and leading receiver Jeremy Williams, who has missed the last three games with a hand injury.
LSU held Tulane to 72 rushing yards on 30 carries. The Green Wave used two quarterbacks, sophomore Kevin Moore and redshirt freshman Kemp. Kemp was 5-for-12 for 40 yards, and Moore was 6-for-11 for 44 yards.
Kemp led a nine-play, 45-yard drive that ended in a 48-yard field goal, cutting the deficit to 7-3 in the second quarter. The Green Wave moved to the LSU 40 the next time it had the ball, but the Tigers stuffed Moore on consecutive sneaks on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1.
Tulane scored its only touchdown on a 43-yard interception return by Travis Burks in the fourth quarter. It was the fifth time this season an opponent has scored on an interception of LSU quarterback Jarrett Lee, including two by Georgia last Saturday.
It was another spotty performance by Lee, who finished 8-for-20 for 99 yards.
This pick-6 was not nearly as costly, but it produced a few boos and it may not bode well for the Tigers’ matchup with Alabama.
The remaining fans in a mostly empty stadium cheered loudly when freshman Jordan Jefferson replaced Lee with 4:08 left in the game. Jefferson, playing because Andrew Hatch was unavailable with a leg injury, rewarded them by leading a touchdown drive.
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