BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – At least Northwestern State didn’t get shut out again.
John Shaughnessy’s 44-yard field goal, which glanced through off the left upright, had the Demons as close as 7-3 against LSU on Saturday night and marked the first time in 11 meetings that they’d ever scored a point on the Tigers.
Not much went right after that in a 49-3 loss to the second-ranked Tigers, but Demons coach Bradley Dale Peveto didn’t regret bringing his overmatched team to Tiger Stadium, where he had served as an LSU assistant under Les Miles for four seasons.
“Our team got to come in here and experience Tiger Stadium, experience the crowd, the adrenaline and big-time Southeastern Conference football. That is quite an honor,” Peveto said. “We wanted to come in here and call the game aggressive, play aggressive and lay it all on the line, and we did that.”
Peveto said there were moments when his team looked as though it belonged, and others when it didn’t. The statistics indicated more of the latter. The Demons were held to minus-4 yards rushing. Brad Henderson, who led Northwestern State to a comeback victory over Delta State a week earlier, was scrambling often and had trouble finding receivers with much consistency, finishing 16 of 26 for 74 yards and an interception.
Demons tight end Justin Aldredge caught seven passes for 58 yards, including a 25-yard reception from backup quarterback Don Canyon on a fake punt.
“You play a great team like that and most guys don’t make it out of here healthy,” Henderson said. “We played solid. We kept turnovers to a minimum, LSU just has a great defense.”
Miles had demanded that his team take Northwestern State (1-1) seriously and hoped it would win impressively enough that he could rest starters who will be playing a tougher opponent in less than a week.
The Tigers didn’t disappoint him.
“I like how our team approached this game,” Miles said. “It’s nice. It means that your starters were not taxed. It means you should be fresh, and as we go into a short week, that’s key.”
LSU (2-0) led 28-3 by halftime, allowing Miles to give a number of starters some rest in advance of the Tigers’ Southeastern Conference opener at Mississippi State on Thursday night.
Junior college transfer quarterback Zach Mettenberger made his debut in relief of LSU starter Jarrett Lee to open the second half.
After Lee completed 9 of 10 passes for 133 yards and a touchdown, Mettenberger went 8 of 11 for 92 yards, including a 19-yard touchdown pass.
“He did good,” Miles said. “He came in, got comfortable, made some nice throws. I felt like he handled the offense well.”
LSU fans have been eager to see the 6-foot-5, 222-pound Mettenberger play since his arrival last January from Butler Community College in Kansas, where he passed for 2,678 yards and 32 touchdowns last season.
“It was a great experience and I’m looking forward to a lot more here,” Mettenberger said.
The sophomore completed his first four passes for 44 yards, leading a 59-yard touchdown drive that ended with Michael Ford’s 7-yard run. Later in the third quarter he led a 10-play, 57-yard scoring drive capped by Alfred Blue’s 4-yard scoring run that made it 42-3.
“He knew what his job was and in the huddle took control and went out and got the job done,” said LSU leading receiver Rueben Randle, who caught five passes for 121 yards. “He earned a lot of trust from us tonight and I know that will only build throughout the season.”
Mettenberger’s first touchdown pass in a Tigers uniform went to Kadron Boone in the fourth quarter for the final margin.
LSU outgained Northwestern State 400 yards to 95, and the Tigers rushed for 175 yards.
Ford finished with an LSU-high 72 yards rushing and two TDs. Spencer Ware also ran for two touchdowns.
“They were impressive on television and they’re even more impressive in person,” Peveto said. “The speed is what you cannot really tell on video and on television. That is a fast, fast, football team. … They are very talented, very fast, very physical.”
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