Boxscore

LSU's first-half dominance was too much to overcome as the Tigers roared to a 49-10 win over Louisiana Tech Saturday before a crowd of 91,879 at Tiger Stadium.

The loss dropped Tech to 4-5 overall while No. 7 LSU climbed to 8-1.

LSU stormed out to a 28-0 lead by the end of the first quarter and stretched that lead to 49-3 at the half as the Tigers totaled 429 yards of offense while holding the Bulldogs to 165 before the halftime horn sounded.

Tech tightened things up in the second half, scoring on a 49-yard pass from Luke McCown to Eric Newman with 4:11 remaining in the third quarter for the only second-half score from either team.

The Bulldogs held LSU to 224 yards and off the scoreboard in the second half, but the first-half damage had already been done.

"We battled hard, and I am proud of our team," Tech coach Jack Bicknell said. "I told the team at halftime that I wanted us to win the second half, and they went out and did it. We didn't give up and played the whole sixty minutes, and I think that is something we can build on."

There were some bright spots for the Bulldogs other outscoring LSU 7-0 after intermission. Sophomore running back Ryan Moats became the first player to rush for over 100 yards against the Tigers this season as he picked up 124 yards on 16 carries for an average of 7.8 yards per run.

Louisiana Tech quarterback Luke McCown hit on 11-of-28 passes for 152 yards and the touchdown toss to Newman and was only sacked once despite a fierce LSU pass rush that forced him out of the pocket throughout the contest.

Maxie Causey came in to relieve McCown in the final quarter and connected on 5-of-11 passes for 68 yards.

Freddie King topped Tech receivers with three catches for 77 yards while Erick Franklin added three receptions for 19 yards. Newman finished with two catches for 69 yards.

"We already played against Miami and they were fast but I think LSU was a little more physical and a little stronger than Miami was," McCown said. "They were a little stronger up front and at the linebacker spot.

"Looking at flim I didn't think they were as fast as they actually were on the field. All the credit in the world goes out to them. They (the Tigers) are a great football team and they have a shot at winning the national championship."

McCown said the Bulldogs weren't about to lie down after the poor first-half performance.

"The coaches and the seniors, knowing that we don't have many of these (games) left, just wanted to make sure that we came out and fought in the second half. We were getting whipped but we said 'You know what - let's play a two-quarter game and let's come out and win the second half.' And that's what we did, 7-0."

Early in the first quarter McCown moved past former Tech quarterback Tim Rattay into first place in the Tech record books for career completions and now has 1,024. McCown also moved past former Louisville quarterback Chris Redman into fourth place in the NCAA record books for career total offense. McCown now has 12,170 career total yards while Redman had 12,129 during his Louisville career from 1996-99.

Tech returns to the friendly home confines of Joe Aillet Stadium next Saturday as the Bulldogs play host to SMU in a 2 p.m. Western Athletic Conference contest.