Josh Williams scored two rushing touchdowns, and Garrett Nussemeier passed for 332 yards as LSU beat Vanderbilt 24-17 on Saturday night at Tiger Stadium.
The Tigers (7-4, 4-3 SEC) ended a three-game losing streak, their longest since 2021.
“There was a lot of noise out there about LSU football and the indictments that were made so early in this program’s development,” LSU head coach Brian Kelly said. “The players didn’t listen to it, the coaches didn’t listen to it and I’m proud of them. The players took full accountability of what they wanted to do and they went out and did it.”
LSU led 14-10 at halftime, but Vanderbilt came closer with a 47-yard field goal from Brock Taylor on their first possession of the third quarter.
In what was likely the most important drive of the game, LSU’s offense, which had only scored 29 points in the last two weeks combined, completed a 77-yard, 10-play drive. It ended with Nussemeier throwing a 12-yard touchdown pass to Kyren Lacy, putting LSU up 21-10. The key moment of the drive came on a 24-yard pass from Nussemeier to C.J. Daniels on a fourth down play deep in Vanderbilt territory.
Kelly said that simplifying the game plan on both offense and defense helped LSU play better.
“We had five calls on defense and we ran some pass plays multiple times,” he said. “We were very consistent with our play calls on both sides. That was the mantra this week. Be committed to the call, whatever that call is, execute that call. We were not going to have a lot of calls this week. We cut out a lot. That really helped our players stay locked in on the call and be committed to the call.”
Lacy ended the game with 85 yards on six catches and a touchdown.
Nussemeier, who is starting his first season as LSU’s quarterback, talked about how difficult the past month had been for the team. “It’s hard for the team to not completely hear all the noise,” he said. “The core group of guys really doesn’t care what people have to say about us. We are focused on what we can control and how we can get better at it. We look forward to moving things in the right direction.”
After forcing a Vanderbilt punt, LSU made it a two-score game with a 28-yard field goal by Damian Ramos, making the score 24-10.
Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia scored a 1-yard touchdown run late to make it 24-17, but LSU held on to the ball for the final 5:47, securing the win.
Pavia finished the game with 43 rushing yards on six carries and was 13-of-24 passing for 186 yards.
LSU’s defense, which had allowed 107 points during the three-game losing streak, had its best performance since defeating Arkansas on October 19. Vanderbilt was held to 308 yards of total offense.
Vanderbilt, trying to get its first win over LSU in Baton Rouge since 1951, scored on the first play of the game with a 63-yard touchdown pass from Pavia to Quincy Skinner.
Williams scored the first of his two touchdowns on LSU’s second possession of the game, finishing off a 90-yard drive with a 20-yard touchdown run.
After LSU stopped Vanderbilt on fourth down inside its own territory, the Tigers went on an 80-yard, nine-play drive, which ended with a 21-yard touchdown run from Williams to give LSU the lead at 14-7. Williams finished the game with 90 yards rushing on 14 carries.
“I just felt like I had to be a catalyst, a spark plug for the team,” Williams said. “I felt the energy after the game at Florida and I just wanted to come in this week. It’s my last two games here in the regular season so I wanted to finish it out strong. And I came in with the message that hey guys this isn’t over yet.”
