CBS SportsLine wire reports
Sept. 12, 1998

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Kevin Faulk, who decided to return to LSU for his senior season rather than jump to the NFL, began his assault on the Southeastern Conference record book Saturday night.

Faulk got his final season

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with the Tigers off to a good start, rushing for 180 yards and two touchdowns, making two catches for 12 yards and adding 74 return yards, including a 58-yard punt return for a touchdown as No. 7 LSU beat Arkansas State 42-6.

"You saw him tonight. That's really it, it speaks for itself," quarterback Herb Tyler said of Faulk. "I am really happy he's here. I wouldn't trade him for the world."

It was the sixth straight game in which Faulk, who said last winter he would honor his commitment to LSU rather than go pro, had 100 yards rushing. He moved into ninth place on the SEC's career rushing list, and into a tie for fifth in the conference for touchdowns with 36.

"It was kind of humid out there, so I'd have to take a breather every once in a while," Faulk said.

Despite the big night by Faulk, LSU played a lackluster opening game, showing few signs of living up to lofty preseason predictions against the lowly Indians.

OTHER THAN FAULK, LSU WAS NOT IMPRESSIVE against a team that is 17-50-1 since moving up to Division I-A in 1992 and lost 50-0 last season to then-No. 14 Virginia Tech, the last ranked team it played.

"We don't have anything to hang our heads about," Arkansas State coach Joe Hollis said. "We played with genuine effort."

The Tigers fumbled three times and lost one, converted only seven of 14 third downs and had nine penalties for 60 yards.

"We probably had too many penalties and there were times when we were a little sloppy, but a win's a win," LSU coach Gerry DiNardo said. "Overall, the effort was good, but we did make a few mistakes execution-wise. We'll make improvements before next week."

LSU led 21-3 at halftime despite out-gaining Arkansas State 299 yards to 143 and holding it to just 10 yards rushing.

Arkansas State (0-2) had no ground game, rushing for only 43 yards on 37 carries. It did not pick up a rushing first down until the final three minutes of the game.

"WE WERE NOT CONSISTENT RUNNING

Faulk was a busy man for LSU Saturday with three total TDs and 180 rushing yards. (AP)

the football, but that was a fear of going against LSU," Hollis said. "We got beat by a better football team, but I've been here before, and I've seen people come in numerous times and get beat worse than our Arkansas State team got beat tonight."

LSU went up 7-0 on Faulk's 14-yard run halfway through the first quarter. They added two second-quarter scores, a 35-yard pass to Abram Booty and a 4-yard run by Tyler with 25 second left.

Tyler was 13-of-25 for 170 yards and a touchdown. He was intercepted once and sacked twice.

Arkansas State's first-half offense consisted of two long passes -- a 50-yarder to Lennie Johnson when LSU sent an all-out blitz against Cleo Lemon and a 49-yarder to Robert Kilow that set up the Indians' first field goal.

Lemon was 6-of-17 for 143 yards and was sacked five times.

Andy McPherson kicked a 27-yard field goal in the second quarter and a 42-yarder in the third quarter.

Faulk took the first punt of the second half down the sidelines, dodging tacklers and then kicking in a burst of speed that put him all alone as he hit the end zone 58 yards later giving LSU a 28-3 lead.

He opened the fourth-quarter scoring with a 78-yard touchdown run to make it 35-6.

Rondell Mealey, who was limited in practice most of the week with a sprained foot and was not expected to play, stretched the lead to 42-6 with a 10-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.