Tigers rout Hokies, 48-7, in Tiger Stadium season-opener

Saturday’s game between second-ranked LSU and No. 9 Virginia Tech was supposed to be a hard-fought contest that many expected to go down to the wire. Well, the Tigers had other plans.

LSU held the Hokies to 149 total yards while racking up 598 yards of its own en route to a 48-7 victory.

The Tigers started the scoring early as Jacob Hester and Matt Flynn each had rushing touchdowns in the first quarter. A Colt David field goal upped LSU’s lead to 17-0 early in the second quarter and a 67-yard touchdown run by Keiland Williams gave the Tigers a 24-0 halftime lead.

In the second half, Early Doucet caught a 34-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Perrilloux, Williams added a 32-yard scoring run, Perrilloux found Terrance Tolliver for another scoring pass and David added another field goal.

LSU registered 28 first downs, while allowing only 11 and 71 yards on the ground. The Tigers rushed for 297 yards on the ground and had 301 passing. Williams led all players with 126 yards on seven carries. Hester added 81 yards on 12 carries. Flynn was 17-of-27 for 217 yards. Perrilloux completed all five of his attempts for 84 yards. Brandon LaFell led the team with seven catches for 125 yards. Linebacker Kirston Pittman led the etam with eight total tackles. As a unit, the Tigers notched three sacks (Craig Steltz, Curtis Taylor and Rahim Alem). Steltz also intercepted his fourth pass of the season in the first quarter.

With the victory, LSU remained at No.2 in the national polls, but did pick up 20 more first-place votes from the writers and seven first-place votes from the coaches compared to last week’s poll. Southern Cal, who was idle last week, remains No. 1 in both polls. In this week’s The Associated Press poll, USC has 40 first-place votes, while LSU has the remaining 25 first-place votes.

The Tigers now turn their attention to Middle Tennessee State, who will be playing at Tiger Stadium for a 7 p.m. kickoff. The game will be televised by TigerVision, LSU’s in house pay-per-view network.

The Blue Raiders will come to Baton Rouge 0-2 on the season, but fresh off a failed upset bid over No. 8 Louisville, 58-42. MTS is led by quarterback Joe Craddock, who has thrown for 489 yards and two touchdowns this season. On the ground, Phillip Tanner has three touchdowns. Craddock’s favorite receiver so far this season is Patrick Honeycutt, who has eight catches for 128 yards. The Blue Raiders are a member of the Sun Belt Conference, which features Louisiana schools Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana-Monroe. MTS lost to Florida Atlantic, 27-14, in the first game of the season.

LADY TIGERS REMAIN UNDEFEATED

The LSU soccer team capped a successful weekend Saturday night by extending its unbeaten streak to six games with a dominating 4-1 win over Miami in the 2007 Long’s Electronics Samford Classic at Bulldog Field in Birmingham, Alabama.

The Tigers (4-0-0) evened the all-time series with the Hurricanes (2-1-1) at 1-1 and are riding their longest unbeaten streak since the 2005 season when they were also unbeaten in a six-game span.

Rachel Yepez, Melissa Clarke, Roslyn Jones and Taryne Boudreau each scored goals against the Hurricanes. Malorie Rutledge, Boudreau, Jones and Yepez were named to the all-tournament team. Earlier in the tourney, the Lady Tigers beat Memphis, 7-2.

The Tigers return home on Friday to take on McNeese State in a match scheduled for 7 p.m. On Sunday, LSU plays at Houston in a contest slated for noon.

VOLLEYBALL TEAM UPS RECORD TO 8-1

The LSU volleyball team notched two wins on Saturday in the final day of the Iowa Challenge. The Lady Tigers beat Iowa and Drake. Earlier in the tournament on Friday, LSU fell to Iowa State.

Elena Martinez and Kyna Washington were each named to the all-tournament team.

The Lady Tigers now start Southeastern Conference play. Their first contest will be at Ole Miss on Wednesday and then travel to Arkansas on Sunday.