LSU Tigers

BATON ROUGE, La. -- LSU's mid-game hiccup against the mid-major happened again.

Again, LSU was able to right the ship, this time to an impressive result.

Two pick-sixes by the Tigers' defense and Zach Mettenberger's first 200-yard passing game of his short career allowed LSU to pull away to score the most points by a Tigers team in the Les Miles era in a 63-14 shellacking of Idaho Saturday.

A red zone interception thrown by Mettenberger into the arms of Idaho safety Gary Walker, who returned it 94 yards to set up a touchdown, allowed the winless Vandals to stay within a touchdown of the third-ranked Tigers for most of the first half. But a late Mettenberger TD pass to Jarvis Landry just before halftime began a stretch of 42 straight LSU points.

Like LSU's 41-14 win over North Texas in the season opener, the Tigers (3-0) allowed a team from a smaller conference to hang around. Idaho (0-3) trailed just 21-14 late in the second quarter and 28-14 at halftime, but LSU completely dominated the second half and finished with 472 yards of offense to 213 for the Vandals.

It was over when: LSU defensive end Lavar Edwards tipped a Dominique Blackman pass into the air, intercepted it and returned it 23 yards for a touchdown on Idaho's first possession of the second half, giving the Tigers a 35-14 lead.

It was the second pick-6 of the game, following a 45-yard pick-6 by Ronald Martin in the first half.

Game ball goes to: Martin and cornerback Jalen Collins. On two interceptions, Collins made a nice play to break up the pass, then Martin caught the deflection. On the second one, Martin exploded down the left sideline for a touchdown, giving the Tigers a 21-7 second quarter lead. The first one set up a touchcown.

LSU intercepted Blackman four times, making his 23-for-36, 176-yard passing day that included a pair of touchdowns somewhat benign.

Key stat: 222, the yards Mettenberger threw for in his most prolific night yet. After completing four of his first eight, he completed 13 of his final 15 to go 17-for-23 with two touchdowns and the one bad interception at the Idaho 1.

Wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr., caught four passes for 73 yards, making up for an off-week in last week's 41-3 win over Washington when he had three dropped passes and a fumble.

Deuces wild: LSU had two pick-6s, two TD passes by Mettenberger and two rushing touchdowns from two different players-- Kenny Hilliard, who rushed for 116 yards on 11 carries, and true freshman Jeremy Hill.

What it means: That Mettenberger played into the fourth quarter and kept throwing passes on the Tigers' final drive showed that LSU is serious about developing the passing game. It had some issues -- not just the interception, but three sacks by the Vandals -- but it appears the Tigers are committed to getting the passing game ready for prime time with SEC play looming.

BATON ROUGE, La. -- If you wanted pretty, Tiger Stadium has not been the place to be.

Zach Mettenberger threw two touchdowns, but also a red zone interception and took two sacks. The LSU defense gave up a long touchdown drive and was bailed out only by an interception return for touchdown.

It added up to an ugly 28-14 lead for No. 3 LSU over winless Idaho.

Stat of the half: Three, the number of game-changing interceptions. Ronald Martin intercepted two passes, one to set up an LSU touchown and another returned 45 yards for another touchdown. And, in what's been the play of the game so far, Mettenberger threw a red zone pass right into the arms of Gary Walker of Idaho at the 1, who returned it 94 yards to the LSU 5 to set up a Vandals touchdown.

The Tigers were driving to take a three-score lead when Mettenberger threw the interception and instead found themselves in a competitive game.

Player of the half: Martin, who started for an ailing Craig Loston at strong safety and had the two interceptions of Dominique Blackman, who was otherwise effective, throwing for 99 yards on 12-for-15 passing. A high honorable mention goes to cornerback Jalen Collins, who deflected both passes into the arms of Martin.

What's working for LSU: The Tigers' coverage of Idaho's receivers has been good, keeping Vandals passes short. LSU has mostly shut down the Idaho running game.

On offense, Mettenberger has found the deep touch with throws of 33- and 23-yards to Russell Shepard and threw touchdown passes to Kadron Boone and Jarvis Landry.

What's not working for LSU: The Tigers aren't getting to Blackman, who's finding the time to pick the Tigers apart.

LSU's running game is 3.7 yards a carry (18-67), two yards a carry below its average for the season. Alfred Blue, who had back-to-back 100-yard rushing games entering the night, had just 37 yards on nine carries.

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Cue up the "The SEC doesn't play anybody out of conference" complaints.

True or not, LSU is hearing that this week as it prepares to host 0-2 Idaho. The Vandals are not only winless, they are coming off a 2-10 season. And, Idaho is one of the WAC's "left behind" schools destined for a future of wondering whether their league will continue to exist after it was pillaged in recent years during conference realignment.

It makes for a compelling story, but not necessarily in the context of an opponent for a national championship contender like No. 3 LSU.

That was true, of course, until what happened last weekend in Little Rock, Ark.

Louisiana-Monroe, a middling Sun Belt Conference program often mentioned as a candidate to drop back to the FCS, upset another would-be SEC West national title contender, Arkansas. Perfect timing for LSU, which probably needed something for focus during a week where the biggest complaints from fans are about the schedule, not the team.

"It will be mentioned at meetings," said LSU coach Les Miles of ULM's win on Monday. He has stuck with the theme, going so far as to pick on a smaller-than-usual gathering of reporters at his Wednesday news conference that they weren't taking the opponent seriously enough.

He was joking.

We think.

Three things to watch

1. Keeping it interesting: The would-be stumbling blocks on LSU's schedule, with one notable exception Nov. 3, look less and less daunting. Auburn's season is on the verge of disaster. Florida sort of struggles along. South Carolina is still looking for a quarterback. And we've covered what happened to Arkansas. With LSU looking so solid early, especially in last week's 41-3 win over Washington, will the schedule keep the Tigers' focused? That question is particularly relevant this week.

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BATON ROUGE, La. -- An Idaho Vandal might give LSU's defense fits this season.

If it happens, odds are, it won't be until the Tigers play Alabama, whose offensive coordinator, Doug Nussmeier, played quarterback at Idaho in the early 1990s.

As for his alma mater, which visits Tiger Stadium to play the No. 3 Tigers Saturday, any success against LSU's defense, ranked fifth in the nation in the nation and first in the SEC allowing 201 yards a game, would be a moral victory.

Idaho, 0-2 after losses to FCS power Eastern Washington and MAC member Bowling Green, ranks 119th out of 120 FBS teams in scoring with 16 points in its first two games. The Vandals rushing offense is 118th, averaging 39.5 yards a game.

It took Idaho 113 minutes of football this season before it could score its first touchdown. After getting embarrassed at home, 20-3, by EWU, the Vandals managed just two field goals over three quarters at Bowling Green Saturday before quarterback Dominique Blackman hit Marquan Major for a 16-yard touchdown pass with 6:22 left in what was eventually a 21-13 win for the Falcons.

It sounds like the Vandals could use the services of Nussmeier, who won the Walter Payton Award, given to the top offensive player in Division I-AA (now the FCS), in 1993 Before him, John Friesz won the Payton Award for Idaho in 1989. Both went on to play quarterback in the NFL.

It should be said that quarterback isn't the problem right now for the Vandals. Blackman passed for 352 yards against Bowling Green in his first start of the season by completing an efficient 30 of 37 passes. But Idaho settled for field goal attempts, making two of three and Blackman was picked off once.

He'll have a harder time moving the ball against an LSU defense many consider the nation's best. The Tigers are giving up just over 200 yards and 8.5 points per game.

Idaho opened Sunday as a 42.5 underdog for this weekend. Seems generous, considering that LSU has as many touchdowns on punt returns as Idaho has overall.