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Faulk, Tigers find lost magic in 41-6 rout of Bulldogs
CBS SportsLine wire reports
BATON ROUGE, La. -- For three games, opponents kicked away from Kevin Faulk on special teams and double-teamed him on offense. On Saturday night, No. 24 Mississippi State was unable to do either.
LSU gave Faulk the ball and holes to run through and he responded with lots of yards and a few more records as the Tigers beat No. 24 Mississippi State 41-6. "I never knew about the records until the beginning of the season and I never worried about them at all," Faulk said. "I was trying to win games. That's what was always important to me." After three losses in a row, LSU (4-3, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) returned to the form that had made it a preseason pick to win the conference -- power running that ate up yards and the clock, interspersed with timely passes from Herb Tyler. "We could not stop their running game, which caused us some very big problems," Mississippi State coach Jackie Sherrill said. Faulk rushed for 123 yards on 24 carries and scored three touchdowns, two by rushing and one receiving. In LSU's three losses, Faulk hadn't rushed for more than 88 yards or scored a touchdown. "We know what we can do if we put our minds to it," Tyler said. "We ran (the option) in short yardage and got some crucial first downs with it, and the offensive line blocked well and Kevin did a good job finding the holes." It was the 20th 100-yard game in Faulk's career, but only the third this year. The game made Faulk LSU's career rushing leader with 4,079 yards, 29 more than Dalton Hilliard's record set between 1982 and 1985, and his 208 all-purpose yards gave him 6,087 for his career, making him the 11th player in NCAA history to reach 6,000. Before leaving the game in the third quarter, Faulk had another 31 yards in returns nullified by penalties. "I have been here four years and I never felt more nervous than tonight," Faulk said. "You never know who can win the game and I just wanted it to be us." TYLER, WHO ALSO PLAYED ONLY three quarters, was 10-of-18 for 162 yards and three TDs and also ran for a score. Mississippi State (5-2, 3-1), which has never gone 4-0 in SEC games, has lost seven in a row to LSU. "They're a physical football team," LSU nose guard Anthony McFarland said. "We wanted to come out and try to stop run on first down and make them do something they don't like to do, get in second-and-long and third-and-long." The Tigers opened the game with a 16-play drive that went 84 yards and took 7:14 off the clock. All but three of the plays were rushes, including Faulk's 3-yard touchdown that put LSU up 6-0. An 8-yard pass to Rondell Mealey and a 2-yard run by Tyler put the Tigers up 21-0 at the half. "OFFENSIVELY WE NEVER HAD THE opportunity to get the ball," Sherrill said. "Their first drive was 16 plays and they took the clock down. They also had another 16-play drive. The time of possession in the first quarter was completely lopsided." Faulk opened the third quarter with a 3-yard touchdown run that made it 28-0. After struggling against strong-armed quarterbacks all season, LSU had no trouble against Mississippi State's Wayne Madkin, holding him to 10-of-23 for 166 yards, including just one completion in the first half. Mississippi State's James Johnson, the leading rusher in the SEC with a 155-yard average, gained just 76 yards on 20 carries. LSU HAD 421 YARDS OF OFFENSE to 285 for the Bulldogs and outrushed State 236-119. Even when LSU got in trouble, Faulk and Tyler were able to make big plays. On Faulk's last touchdown, the snap sailed over Tyler's head and rolled to midfield before he chased it down. Tyler scrambled back to the line of scrimmage and passed to Faulk for the score that made it 34-0. Madkin's second completion of the game came in the third quarter and Dennis McKinley fumbled it, turning the ball over to LSU at the Bulldogs 11. Two plays later, Tyler's 11-yard pass to Abram Booty made it 41-0. Madkin's 11-yard pass to Kevin Prentiss in the fourth quarter allowed Mississippi State to avert a shutout.
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