BATON ROUGE, La. -- — Garrett Nussmeier threw three touchdown passes and ran for a fourth and No. 3 LSU easily beat Southeastern Louisiana 56-10 on Saturday night.

The Tigers (4-0) erupted for 28 points in the second quarter to put the game quickly out of reach in only the third meeting between the schools.

“We have a standard of how we want to play and I thought we upheld that standard,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said. “There is no perfection out there, but there was definitely some progress.”

Up by a touchdown early in the second quarter, LSU scored on back-to-back drives, on scoring runs of 2 and 10 yards by running back Ju’Juan Johnson.

LSU’s defense, which held the Lions (2-2) to 30 yards of total offense in the first half, forced a three and out late in the second quarter. Nussmeier then drove the offense down the field, completing passes to Bauer Sharp for 6 yards and a pair to Barion Brown including a 17 yarder for a touchdown and a 28-0 lead.

LSU finished the first half with an 8-play, 56-yard drive, culminating in a 9-yard touchdown pass from Nussmeier to Zavion Thomas, extending the lead to 35-0.

Nussmeier, who Kelly said has been dealing with a torso injury early in the season, finished 25 of 31 for 273 yards before exiting after throwing a 23-yard touchdown pass to Sharp on the opening series of the third quarter.

“I think we just did a better job as an offense in general,” Nussmeier said. “This week was about trying to find our rhythm and getting into stride heading into SEC play. We did a good job of that tonight.

“I’m getting better," he said, referring to his health. "We are getting better as an offense and just making baby steps and moving forward. For one, it just looked like we were out there having fun. We were enjoying it and I think that is a big thing for us. It was a release of stress. It’s about not going out there and trying to be perfect, just going out there and playing. I thought we executed very well and took our opportunities to execute down the field.”

He was replaced by sophomore Michael Van Buren Jr., who saw his first action of the season and scored a fourth-quarter touchdown that made it 49-7.

“We made the progress we were looking for and now we have to build on that,” Kelly said. “The goal tonight was to play to the standard, not the opposition. We had the better team and the better players, but then it comes down to your execution and the things you do and I thought we did some good things tonight.”

With most of the LSU starting defense on the sidelines to start the second half, Southeastern Louisiana’s lone TD came midway through the third quarter on a 14-yard pass by Carson Camp to Deantre Jackson.

For the second consecutive week, an LSU player was ejected for a personal foul. With under a minute to go in the third quarter, Damian Ramos attempted a 59-yard field goal, which was returned by Da’Shun Hugley. Sophomore offensive lineman D.J. Chester was ejected for targeting while attempting to make the tackle.

The takeaway

Southeastern Louisiana: An overmatched Lions squad hung with LSU for the first 15 minutes, trailing only 7-0, but only managed a pair of first downs in the first half.

LSU: For the first time this season, the Tigers offense showed signs of productivity, with 12 plays of at least 10 yards, putting up the most first half points since a 42-10 win over South Alabama last Sept. 28.

Up next

Southeastern Louisiana: Hosts UTRGV next Saturday.

LSU: Travels to Mississippi next Saturday.

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