Oct. 31, 2009

Final Stats |  Quotes |  Notes |  AP Photo Gallery 

Game Book in PDF Format

BATON ROUGE, La. -- While children around the nation donned costumes and masks in their march door-to-door hollering the mantra "Trick or Treat", the Tulane University football team suffered a scare of its own as No. 9 LSU defeated the Green Wave, 42-0, Halloween Night at Tiger Stadium.

The Tigers rolled up 455 yards of total offense, including 267 on the ground, and their defense held Tulane to 216 total yards and a 3-for-13 showing on third down to hand the Green Wave their first shutout defeat since falling to No. 3 Texas, 49-0, on Sept. 28, 2002, in the Louisiana Superdome. With the loss, Tulane falls to 2-7 on the year. LSU, meanwhile, improves to 7-1.

"We just lost to a very good football team," Tulane head football coach Bob Toledo said. "As I mentioned in the course of the week, they were very physical and very athletic. We got a couple of opportunities early to kick a field goal, and we moved down the field again. We might have had another opportunity to kick a field goal or score a touchdown, and we didn't. We had a punt blocked early which hurt us. We had a bad snap and a bad kick. It was hard slowing them. They were very physical at the end. They just wore us down."

Tulane's receiving tandem of senior Jeremy Williams and junior Casey Robottom combined for 15 catches and 141 yards through the air, and redshirt-freshman quarterback Ryan Griffin completed 21-of-29 passes for 163 yards, but it was not enough to overcome a tough LSU team that controlled the ballgame from start to finish.

Special teams hurt the Green Wave throughout the night as they suffered a blocked punt, a missed field and allowed the Tigers to average 30.75 yards on four punt returns. LSU's Trindon Holliday had 105 yards on three punt returns, including a pair of 50-yarders.

Tulane forced an LSU punt on the opening possession of the game, and the Tigers returned the favor on the Green Wave's first drive. The difference was Daniel Graff blocked Tulane's attempt and LSU took over at the Tulane 23. Two plays later, Russell Shepard found paydirt form 19 yards out to give the home team a 7-0 advantage.

Holiday put the Tigers in position to score again with his first 50-yard return following Tulane's next possession, but the Green Wave snuffed out the drive when senior defensive end Adam Kwentua picked off a Jordan Jefferson pass at the Tulane 11 and returned it to the 16. The LSU defense forced a three-and-out, and the offense responded with a five-play, 63-yard drive capped by a 39-yard scoring strike from Jefferson to Brandon LaFell to put Tulane in a 14-0 hole.

The Green Wave had a chance to get on the board midway through the second quarter when the offense moved from its own 17 down to the LSU 23. Tulane lost three yards on third down, and Ross Thevenot's 43-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left.

To make matters worse for the Wave, the Tigers took over and went 74 yards over the next 3:56 and went up 21-0 on a four-yard scoring jaunt by Charles Scott. Tulane appeared to have something going late in the half as the Green Wave offense moved methodically from their own 20 to the LSU 19. Following a timeout with 1:18 left in the second quarter, Patrick Peterson stepped in front of a Griffin pass for an interception to keep it a three-down ballgame headed into the break.

The two teams traded punts to open the second half, but on Tulane's second punt over the final 30 minutes, Holliday had his second 50-yard return to give the Tigers the ball at the Green Wave 20. Three plays later, Scott scored from eight yards out to make it 28-0.

LSU posted two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter as Jefferson found LaFell for a 13-yard score with 9:55 left to play and Steven Ridley capped an 11-play, 98-yard drive with a 10-yard run with 1:12 to go to account for the final score.

"At the half we kept it competitive," Toledo said. "That was my main thing going into the game. I told the team, let's be as competitive as we can. Let's play hard and physical. Let's play for 60 minutes, four quarters and try to gain some respect.

"It's a little bit of a mismatch, regardless of what people want to say. They're good. They are bigger, faster and stronger than we are. Their X's are bigger than our X's, and their O's are bigger than our O's, plain and simple."

Senior defensive back Chinonso Echebelem led the Tulane defense with nine tackles, including a half-tackle for loss, while freshman free safety Jordan Garrett - who started for the first time on Saturday - was next with eight. Senior defensive tackle Reggie Scott and sophomore defensive end Brooks Cunningham each had sacks for the Green Wave.

The Green Wave return to action on Saturday, Nov. 7, when they play host to Conference USA foe UTEP at 2:30 p.m. in the Louisiana Superdome. For ticket information, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at 504-861-WAVE. Tickets can be purchased in person, over the phone or via the internet at www.TulaneGreenWave.com.