BATON ROUGE, La. (WGNO) — At the 2021 home opener, it was lots of Cade York, lots of defense and very little offense in a 34 -7 LSU victory over McNeese State at Tiger Stadium.
LSU sacked McNeese quarterback Cody Orgeron, son of LSU head coach Ed Orgeron, 8 times, and registered 16 tackles for losses.
True freshman Maason Smith had three sacks.
Senior Andre’ Anthony had 2.5 quarterback sacks.
LSU kicker Cade York, a first team preseason All-America, lived up to the hype with a pair of booming field goals. York kicked a 55 yarder in the second quarter, a Tiger Stadium record. And, then he broke his own record on the first play of the fourth quarter, with a 56 yard field goal.
York’s 57 yard field goal last December gave LSU and upset win over Florida in the swamp.
The LSU offense was thoroughly unimpressive, despite having a huge size advantage over the Cowboys.
LSU starter Max Johnson threw for only 161 yards, but did throw three TD passes, two to Kayshon Boutte, and one to Trey Palmer.
LSU’s putrid running attack was boosted by true freshman Corey Kiner ran 11 times for 56 yards, including a 23 yard TD run in the 4th quarter. LSU played the game without starting right tackle Austin Deculus, starting left tackle Cam Wire, and right guard Chasen Hines.
True freshman quarterback Garrett Nussmeier saw his first action as a Tiger. He was only 3 of 10 passing for 19 yards but suffered several drops by receivers.
Cory Orgeron threw a 44 yard TD pass to Carlo Williams in the fourth quarter for McNeese’s only score.
The Tigers host Central Michigan next Saturday night at 6:30 pm.
The Tigers are 1-1 on the season, but their first win was still a work in progress for an offense that is, lacking.