LSU football loses Harold Perkins but handled UCLA. How we graded the Tigers' win.
BATON ROUGE — It took a while but LSU football finally took control against UCLA on Saturday night.
After the first half played to a 17-17 tie, LSU scored on its first two drives of the second half as it put away the Bruins 31-17 inside Tiger Stadium.
No. 16 LSU (3-1) kept UCLA off the scoreboard in the second half. The Tigers defense caused a pair of turnovers in the game and converted those extra possessions into points, both scores that ultimately factored into the outcome of the game.
Junior quarterback Garrett Nussmeier threw for 332 yards on 31-for-42 passing with three touchdowns.
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Offense: B+
The offensive playcalling got a little disjointed in the second quarter, which caused a few third-and-longs that the offense falied to convert. But the reliance on Mason Taylor and Aaron Anderson in the passing games deserves plenty of praise.
Defense: B+
The adjustments up front along the defensive line with pressures and gaps defensive coordinator Blake Baker made after the opening quarter were highly effective.
Special teams: A-
The punt from Blake Ochsendorf that was a master class, downed inside the UCLA 10 in the second quarter, alone is enough to give the special teams an 'A' here.
Coaching: B
Adjustments matter in football and how the LSU staff on both sides of the ball changed things over the course of the game was their collective best job of doing so up to this point this season.
Overall: B
The score isn't what fans would like for it to be against a Bruins team that got blasted at home against Indiana last week, but LSU got a lot of good performances which it can build on going forward.
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Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Grading LSU football's win over UCLA at home
