UCLA went into Baton Rouge as heavy underdogs and gave the LSU Tigers a run for their money in the first half.
Ultimately, though, the Tigers were too much for the Bruins, beating them 34-17 in front of a crowd of 100,315 to improve to 3-1 on the season.
After LSU opened the game with a 75-yard touchdown drive, UCLA answered right away with a 75-yard touchdown drive of their own.
UCLA took a 10-7 lead late in the first quarter on a 47-yard field goal by Mateen Bhaghani.
LSU appeared set to go into the locker room at halftime with the lead, but UCLA tied it on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Ethan Garbers to Logan Loya.
Still, LSU Head Coach Brian Kelly praised his team’s performance in the first half.
“They got off to a much better start,” Kelly said of his offense after the game. “Obviously, the great drive to start, and then we made too many mistakes onm the ensuing UCLA drive, which were maddening.”
But LSU’s defense clamped down in the second half, shutting the Bruins out as their offense put up 17 more points of their own to account for the final margin of victory.
Kelly says they made no adjustments on the defensive side of the ball in the second half.
“They executed the defenses that were called,” said Kelly. “Execution is attention to detail. Doing your job. DYJ, do your job.”
Kelly says he and his staff will continue working on eliminating the mistakes on defense, especially in the first half of games.
“We are going to clean them up and continue to work,” Kelly said. “Those are the guys we got. There is no one getting traded. Those are the guys we are going to work with, and we are just going to keep coaching them, and we are going to keep working with them.”
As LSU was shutting out UCLA on defense in the second half, LSU’s offense also turned it into high gear, opening the second half with touchdown drives of 96 and 92 yards.
“It’s just focusing on each play,” said Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier of the back-to-back 90-plus-yard touchdown drives in the second half.
“No moment is too big for us as an offense, and I think we did a really good job executing and focusing on taking it step-by-step.”
Nussmeier had another big game, throwing for 352 yards and three touchdowns.
“I think Coach (Joe) Sloan does an unbelievable job as the coordinator by putting us in good situations,” said Nussmeier. “He does an outstanding job of understanding how teams are trying to attack us and doing the opposite.”
As LSU was burning it up on the field, especially in the second half, fans along the east sidelines were unfortunately burning up as well, albeit in a different and unfortunate way.
Several fans had to be treated for heat-related episodes; and by the start of the fourth quarter, the east side was half empty.
“I feel bad; I hope everybody is okay,” said Coach Kelly. “I did see visually that there weren’t many people in the stands over there, because the sun is obviously pounding on them.”
That’s all the more reason why LSU prefers to play games at night, at least early in the season.
“The TV schedule is something that I have no control over. I’m sure our administration gets a chance to weigh in. We would prefer later games, but we’re beholden to what the national audience is.”
The national audience — as well as that of Baton Rouge — will get to see their team later in the day next week, as they host South Alabama with a 6:45 p.m. kickoff.