News / Sports
Sugar Bowl: #4 LSU Demolished #11 Notre Dame 41-14 in BCS Bowl Blowout
For one half it seemed as if the BCS committee may have gotten it right. Then the second half happened. The LSU Tigers put 20 points on the board after halftime and routed the Irish of Notre Dame 41-14.
The Tigers jumped to a quick 14-0 lead in the first quarter on a 3-yard touchdown run from Kieland Williams and an 11-yard touchdown pass from JaMarcus Russell to Dwayne Bowe.
Notre Dame responded with a pair of touchdown passes from Brady Quinn to even the score. Quinn’s first touchdown pass went to David Grimes for a 24-yard score. Jeff Samardzija then caught a 10-yard touchdown and the score was 14-14 with just over two minutes remaining in the second quarter.
With the tide seeming to turn in the favor of the Irish, JaMarcus Russell took matter into his own hands. Russell capped an 82-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown run to go into the locker room with a 21-14 lead.
The end of the first half proved ominous for the Irish as the Tigers ripped the Notre Dame defense in the second half for 20 points. While the offense continued to role, the LSU defense kept the Irish offense in check.
Colt David kicked a pair of field goals in the third quarter and JaMarcus Russell threw a 58-yard touchdown to Brandon Lafell to give the Tigers a 34-14 advantage.
Kieland Williams book-ended the LSU scoring with a 20-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter and pushed the Tigers lead to 41-14, and that’s the way the game ended.
LSU put up 577 yards of total offense, 332 of those yards came from the arm of Russell. The LSU quarterback had a pair of touchdown passes as well. Early Doucet had 115 yards receiving while running back Kieland Williams chewed up 107 yards on the ground and scored two touchdowns.
In his final collegiate game, Notre Dame’s Brady Quinn fell short of ending on a positive note. Quinn threw for 148 yards and two touchdowns but was picked off twice.
The loss was Notre Dame’s ninth consecutive bowl defeat, an NCAA record.
