Taking care of business

• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Nov 1, 2009

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On a cool fall night dripping with nostalgia, the No. 9-ranked LSU football team honored its program’s past by putting on hard hats and delivering a good night’s work Saturday at Tiger Stadium.

There weren’t many bells and whistles, nor were they needed as the Tigers methodically churned past outmanned Tulane 42-0.

When the Tiger Stadium clock hit 0:00, November was finally only a few hours away — a month that will undoubtedly define LSU’s 2009 season.

The crowd offered up its biggest ovation of the night when Billy Cannon stood on the field for a high-definition replay of his famous Halloween punt return, with Mike the Tiger’s rendition of “Thriller” a close second.

As for the game, there wasn’t much drama — which was apparently exactly the recipe the LSU coaches were seeking. The goal was simply to get better, something the Tigers did the week before against Auburn and duplicated against Tulane.

“In all three phases, we needed this game,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “We understand that it’s just a step, just another game, one that we needed to finish the way it did as we go forward. We’re looking forward to the rest of the season to play well and play our best.”

Now, the Tigers can shift their attention, once and for all, to a showdown Saturday at No. 2-ranked Alabama and former LSU coach Nick Saban in a matchup with massive ramifications in the Southeastern Conference and on the national level.

The Tigers (7-1, 4-1 SEC) head to Tuscaloosa a game behind the Crimson Tide (8-0, 5-0) in the West Division standings. Although there will still be three weeks left in both teams’ seasons, the winner will seize the upper hand for a spot in the SEC Championship Game.

“Each opponent is different and possesses a very specific challenge,” Miles said. “Next week’s opponent is certainly different than the team we just played.”

Thinking about the Tide had to wait, though.

First, the Tigers had to grapple with Tulane for one of the last times in an old series, a challenge that was there all week as Miles and his coaches worked to keep the players’ attention focused on the Green Wave.

In his postgame media session, Miles took umbrage with newspaper coverage leading up to the battle with Tulane, grousing that looking beyond the Wave to the collision with Alabama was never an issue.

“We legitimately avoided next week because, frankly, we needed to improve this week and play well this week and this team did that,” Miles said.

From all appearances, Tulane certainly had the Tigers’ full attention.

LSU vaulted in front 14-0 in the first quarter by converting a blocked punt into a touchdown and using Charles Scott’s 30-yard run and Jordan Jefferson’s 39-yard touchdown pass to Brandon LaFell as a springboard.

With those two quick touchdowns setting the tone, the Tigers piled up a season-high 455 total yards, culminating with their longest drive of the night in the closing minutes — 98 yards, with sophomore Stevan Ridley bounding into the end zone to cap LSU’s first shutout since a 45-0 romp at Mississippi State in the 2007 season opener.

In between, Scott bulled his way to a season-high 112 rushing yards — his first performance over 100 this season — and scored a pair of rushing touchdowns to climb into fourth place on LSU’s all-time list.

LaFell also snared a pair of scoring throws to move into second place on the LSU charts, four behind Dwayne Bowe.

As impressive as the offensive performance was, though, the LSU defense wasn’t about to be overshadowed.

Tulane managed to produce 216 yards — 190 through the air — but a blocked punt, a missed field goal and Patrick Peterson’s timely interception of Wave quarterback Ryan Griffin at the 5-yard-line thwarted every threat.

The Tigers’ halftime lead was a workmanlike 21-0, but the missed chances haunted Tulane.

“At the half we kept it competitive,” Wave coach Bob Toledo said. “That was my main thing going into the game. I told the team, ‘Let’s be as competitive as we can. Let’s play hard and physical. Let’s play for 60 minutes, four quarters and try to gain some respect.’

“It was a little bit of a mismatch. Regardless of what people want to say, they’re a great football team. They are bigger and stronger and faster than we are. Their Xs and Os are bigger than our Xs and Os … plain and simple.”

All five of Tulane’s second-half possessions ended in punts as LSU tossed its first shutout at Tiger Stadium since blazing past Kentucky 49-0 on Oct. 14, 2006.

And as if Tulane’s kicking game woes weren’t bad enough, the Tigers also did plenty of damage on returns. Trindon Holliday flipped the field with a pair of 50-yard punt returns.

The first went for naught when University High graduate Adam Kwentua picked Jefferson off. But Holliday’s second jolt late in the third quarter gave LSU the ball at the Wave 20, and three plays later Scott blasted in from the 8-yard line for a 28-0 lead.

That interception was the only real blemish on a solid night for Jefferson. He connected on 11 of 17 passes for 163 yards, with the two scoring strikes to LaFell. The second came on a 13-yard laser that LaFell snatched right in front of the goal line, spun and jabbed over the plane for his eighth TD catch this season.

Buoyed by Scott, the ground game was also in a groove and generated a season-best 267 yards. Russell Shepard added 48 yards, including a 19-yard touchdown, and Stevan Ridley keyed a long drive with 73 yards and a 10-yard scoring run.

“Tulane showed a lot of blitzes, and we made some great blitz pickups,” Jefferson said. “The offensive line gave me great time whenever I needed to pass, and our running game looked really good.”

Added Scott, “We made a point to come out here and focus on things we could improve on going into the next game and going into the backstretch of the season. One was to run the ball, and I feel like we did that pretty well.

“I feel like we made strides toward being the team that we want to be.”

LaFell’s snag padded the lead to 35-0, leaving the only question whether the Tigers could hold Tulane scoreless for the first time since 2002 and the first time by LSU since 1969.

The Wave got the ball back with 9:55 to go and carved out its 14th and last first down on backup quarterback Joe Kemp’s 13-yard pass to Jeremy Williams, who was a bright spot, yanking down eight passes for 78 yards.

But as was the case all night, Tulane stalled, despite an LSU penalty that gave the Wave first-and-5 from the 37. The next three plays typified the night for both teams as Tulane managed only 4 yards on three snaps and had to punt.

LSU got the ball back at its own 2 and Ridley got shoved backward to the 1 on first down.

Form there, though, Ridley and the Tigers leaned on depth and will to deflate whatever intensity the Wave had left. Ridley slashed through the defense seven more times for 74 yards, and backup quarterback Jarrett Lee whistled completions to Rueben Randle for 7 yards and John Williams for 18.

When Ridley took an option toss to the right for 10 yards into the end zone with 1:12 to play, the exclamation point was in place, with a 98-yard drive that was the final piece in a lopsided win that matched the biggest blowout during LSU’s 18-game winning streak over the Wave — the longest since the teams started playing in 1894.

Miles never mentioned Alabama by name in his postgame session, instead focusing a team suddenly looking every bit the role of national championship contender.

“I think we’ll do some improving in this practice week,” he said. “I think our guys will look forward to preparing.”

The Tigers and Crimson Tide kick off at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium. LSU hasn’t lost in Tuscaloosa since 1999.