No. 13 LSU Crushes Mississippi State 51-0

Saturday, September 25th 2004, 5:47 pm

By: News On 6

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) _ Alley Broussard ran for a career-high three touchdowns in the first 17 minutes and No. 13 LSU held Mississippi State to seven first downs and 130 yards in a 51-0 victory Saturday.

Playing in a rare morning game, the Tigers rolled up 594 yards and led 34-0 at half.

The Tigers' defense looked like the dominating force that helped win a share of the national championship last year. LSU (3-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) had four interceptions, recovered a fumble, and scored a touchdown against Mississippi State.

In 2003, LSU scored seven defensive touchdowns while forcing 33 turnovers.

The Bulldogs (1-3, 0-2), who are rebuilding under first-year coach Sylvester Croom, have lost seven straight in Tiger Stadium and 12 of 13 overall against LSU.

Broussard, who entered the game with 99 total yards and no touchdowns, gained 73 yards on 13 carries. He ran for 11 and 1 yard scores in the first quarter to put LSU up 14-0, and opened the second quarter with a 16-yard TD.

Defensive lineman Marcus Spears returned an interception 35-yards for a touchdown and Early Doucet had a 12-yard touchdown catch from Marcus Randall, who started and went 7-for-7 for 103 yards.

In the second half, JaMarcus Russell scrambled for an 8-yard touchdown that gave LSU 41-0 lead.

Russell completed 9 of 12 for 137 yards and a touchdown.

Dwayne Bowe had six catches for 99 yards and Craig Davis had five for 93 for LSU.

LSU coach Nick Saban started pulling his starters early in the third quarter and put in red shirt freshman quarterback Matt Flynn for the final series of the quarter. Flynn completed 2 of 3 for 87 yards and a touchdown.

Mississippi State's Omarr Conner completed 4 of 12 for 44 yards, was intercepted three times and sacked twice before leaving the game less than two minutes into the second half with a bruised right knee. Kyle York replaced him and went 4-for-14 for 46 yards.