BATON ROUGE – Junior quarterback Garrett Nussmeier completed all seven of his passes, including two for touchdowns, to highlight LSU's performance in the National L Club Spring Game here at Tiger Stadium. Successful.
The defense used a unique scoring format for scrimmages, with points awarded for forced turnovers, fourth-down stops, sacks, tackles for loss, and pass breakups. The game ended in a 34-34 tie with the offense scoring four touchdowns and two field goals.
The defense finished with two fourth-down stops, seven sacks, 13 lost tackles and one pass breakup. There were no turnovers in the contest, which featured 68 offensive snaps.
“For me, this was an opportunity to turn 14 preparations and practices into one performance, and I wanted to see how the players handled it,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said. “There's a big difference between a player in practice and a player who goes out there and performs. This is Tiger Stadium. There's history and tradition here, so it's about flipping the switch and getting into the right zone. I want to see players who can play this game at a high level.
“I want our players to think, 'I'm locked in and focused, and I'm treating this like a real chance to compete.' I think some guys have done that. Harold. Perkins did a really great job in the box, we intentionally ran the ball towards him and let him defend and get over the tackle's turning block. I'm glad.”
Perkins had three tackles and one sack for a loss of two yards during the game.
“The other thing we emphasized was the run game and how important that is to the offensive line to show will, and I thought we got that,” Kelly said. “I saw a lot of the beliefs we talked about leading up to this game.”
Sophomore Caleb Jackson led all running backs with 59 yards on 14 carries. He scored on a 32-yard run in the first quarter.
“I also saw things that we had to improve on,” Kelly said. “We can't let the ball go over our heads. We made some coverage mistakes. We can't keep having those things happen. We have to continue to evaluate and recruit for the defensive tackle position. Required.
“I like our edge work. We're getting good pressure off the edge, but we have to be solid on the inside.”
LSU's quarterbacks completed 21-of-34 passes for 371 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions.
Nussmeyer connected with transfer Zavion Thomas for a 45-yard touchdown pass on the game's first possession, and Kylen Lacy ran for a 59-yard TD late in the first quarter. Nussmeier led all quarterbacks with 187 passing yards.
The offense's other score came on a 64-yard TD pass from Colin Hurley to Kai Puan. Damian Ramos kicked a 23-yard field goal and Aidan Corbero scored on a 37-yard attempt.
Austin Ausberry paced the defense with seven tackles, while Gabriel Reliford had 3.5 tackles for a loss, including two sacks.
