Syracuse put up a valiant effort Saturday against No. 8 LSU, but the Orange had no answer for Tigers sophomore running back Leonard Fournette.
Fournette ran wild at the Carrier Dome, racking up 244 yards and two touchdowns in a 34-24 Tigers win. In the process, Fournette became the first LSU player to rush for 200 yards in back-to-back weeks, and he did so against a Syracuse defense that gave up an average of 46 rushing yards per game coming into Saturday’s contest.
Fournette now has 631 rushing yards and eight touchdowns in three games, further establishing himself as an early Heisman frontrunner. He also has five straight 100-yard rushing performances.
Fournette’s first score of the game came on a 14-yard burst late in the first quarter. That touchdown was set up by a heads-up play from quarterback Brandon Harris, who narrowly avoided a sack by alertly flipping the ball to Fournette, who took off for a 48-yard gain.
But that would be the only score of the half for the Tigers thanks to a stellar defensive effort from Syracuse.
Things would change in the second half, largely thanks to Fournette. He saw the ball early and often on an LSU field goal drive that opened the third quarter. Fournette then added another highlight to his reel on a 62-yard scamper late in the third, increasing the lead to 24-10.
The Orange wouldn’t go away, however. Making his first career start, walk-on quarterback Zack Mahoney threw his second touchdown of the game on a two-yard strike to Ben Lewis to cut LSU’s lead to 24-17 early in the fourth.
And when the Syracuse defense was poised to make a stop on the next possession, Harris went to the air and hit Travin Dural deep for a 51-yard gain on a third-and-nine play. Harris dropped another dime on the next play, hitting Malachi Dupre in the corner of the end zone for an 11-yard score to bring LSU’s lead back to two scores, 31-17.
A Mahoney interception allowed LSU to tack on a field goal and aside from a late ‘Cuse touchdown, the Tigers defense held on the rest of the way for a 34-24 win.
The win moves LSU to 3-0 on the season with one more non-conference game (Eastern Michigan) before resuming SEC play.
The loss is the first of the year for Syracuse, which drops to 3-1.
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