Tigers rout ‘dogs, prepares for Virginia Tech

For the second week in a row, the LSU football team will be on national television. However, this week’s opponent should be more of a challenge for the Tigers.

LSU (1-0) opened its season with a 45-0 rout of Southeastern Conference foe Mississippi State on Thursday in Starkville. This Saturday, the No. 2 Tigers will play host to ninth-ranked Virignia Tech, who started the season with a 17-7 victory over East Carolina at home.

The contest is scheduled for 8:15 p.m. in Tiger Stadium. The first game of this season will be televised by ESPN. Also, ESPN’s popular College GameDay will return to LSU this weekend to air from the Parade Grounds in the center of campus beginning on Friday. The LSU campus will also serve as the host site for ESPN’s College GameDay Radio this weekend. College GameDay Radio will broadcast from the Parade Grounds throughout the day on Saturday.

ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot is hosted by Chris Fowler with analysis from Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard.

LSU started its season by forcing seven MSU turnovers and limiting the Bulldogs to only 10 yards on the ground (146 yards total) and also added four sacks and six interceptions, three of which were by Craig Steltz, which set a school record. Curtis Taylor, Jonathan Zenon and Danny McCray each registered an interception in the contest. Ali Highsmith led the Tigers with eight tackles.

Offensively, the Tigers got two rushing touchdowns from Keiland Williams in the second quarter, two passing touchdowns by Matt Flynn (one to Early Doucet and one to Charles Scott) in the third quarter and two touchdowns by Ryan Perrilloux (one rushing, one on a pass to Brandon LaFell) in the fourth quarter. LSU finsihed with 347 yards of total offense in the contest, including 198 yards rushing. Flynn finished with 128 yards passing on 12-of-18 passes. Jacob Hester led the Tigers on the ground with 68 yards on 14 attempts. Doucet had nine catches for 78 yards.

Virginia Tech, who dealt with a shooting that left 32 people dead on campus during the offseason, will be making its first-ver trip to Baton Rouge. The two teams have only played one time before in history when LSU fell to the Hokies, 26-8, in 2002. Virginia Tech is led defensively by linebacker Vince Hall, who led his team with 13 against ECU.

The Hokies gained just 33 yards on the ground in their opener and managed only one offensive touchdown. Quarterback Sean Glennon finished with 245 yards on 22-of-33 passing.

BASKETBALL TEAM WINS

TWO IN CANADA

The LSU men’s basketball team won its second consecutive game as part of a three-game exhibition tour of Canadian schools. The Tigers topped York University, 101-67, on Sunday. Transfer Marcus Thorton led LSU with 19 points. He also scored 30 points during a 92-60 win over Guelph on Saturday. Anthony Randolph scored 17 points on Sunday, while Terry Martin added 14 points and Tasmin Mitchell scored eight points, dished out six assists ad had five steals.

VOLLEYBALL TEAM STILL

UNDEFEATED

The 22nd-ranked LSU volleyball team earned its second tournament title of the season with a pair of wins on Saturday, sweeping Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 30-26, 30-20, 30-24, and knocking off Rice, 30-22, 29-31, 30-17, 30-22, to win the Mizuno Invitational II.

With the wins, the Tigers improved to 6-0.

Lauren DeGirolamo was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, while Kyna Washington and Brittnee Cooper were named to the all-tournament team.

SOCCER TEAM WINS AGAIN

The LSU soccer team improved to 2-0 with a 2-0 win over Louisiana Tech on Sunday at the LSU Soccer Complex in the final game of the LSU Classic.

LSU owns a four-game unbeaten streak dating back to last season when it battled the 12th-ranked Florida Gators to a 1-1 tie on Oct. 22 followed by a 1-0 shutout of SEC West rival Arkansas on Oct. 27. It opened the 2007 season with a 3-0 shutout of Southern Miss on Friday.

Melissa Clarke and Roslyn Jones each notched goals in the victory. Clarke was named the tournament’s Offensive MVP after registering two goals over the weekend.