No. 5 LSU holds off Bulldogs

BATON ROUGE, La. - LSU's answer to avoiding this week's upset bug was to hand it off to Charles Scott.

Scott surpassed 100 yards rushing for a fourth straight game and punched in two short touchdowns, leading No. 5 LSU to a 34-24 victory over Mississippi State on Saturday night.

The Bulldogs turned in a feisty performance in a bid to add another surprising result to a week highlighted by upsets of No. 1 Southern California and No. 4 Florida, Mississippi State trailed by only 10 well into the fourth quarter.

But Scott's 27 carries for 141 yards kept LSU (4-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) moving and the clock rolling.

Jarrett Lee, who went the whole way with Andrew Hatch still recovering from a concussion, put the game away with a 43-yard touchdown pass to Demetrius Byrd, which made it 34-17 with under five minutes to go. Lee finished 18-of-27 for 261 yards. Brandon LeFell made seven catches for 100 yards.

The Bulldogs (1-4, 0-2) rushed for 110 yards against an LSU defense that had been giving up an average of 55.3 yards coming. Anthony Dixon and Christian Ducre each had short rushing TDs for Mississippi State.

However, LSU starting interior defensive linemen Ricky Jean-Francois and Charles Alexander both were shaken up in the first half. Alexander briefly returned in the fourth quarter, Jean-Francois did not, but remained on the sideline in uniform.

Tyson Lee got all the work at quarterback for Mississippi State. He was forced to throw the ball away several times in the face of heavy blitzing, but was sacked only once and finished 17-of-26 175 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.

His touchdown pass went to Ducre for 11 yards, the final score of the game.

Mississippi State converted one of two LSU turnovers into a touchdown, and the Bulldogs trailed only 17-10 at halftime.

Having seen first-half drives stall on an interception and fullback Quinn Johnson's fumble, LSU coach Les Miles decided to get back to basics and give the ball to his workhorse.

Scott took handoffs on the first four plays of the third quarter. The result: 50 yards, including a pair of 20-yard runs. Soon after, Lee's short pass to LaFell was fumbled at the 1, but recovered in the end zone by tight end Richard Dickson for a touchdown.

Colt David's 39-yard field goal on LSU's next drive made it 27-10, before Dixon's 1-yard TD made it a 10-point game with 10:25 remaining.

It was a hard-fought performance by MSU, which was embarrassed, 38-7, at Georgia Tech a week earlier and blown out 45-0 by LSU in 2007. But the Bulldogs, who finished 8-5 with a Liberty Bowl victory last season, have little margin for error if they want another postseason invitation this year.

If LSU needed a reminder of the hazards that come with overlooking a heavy underdog (the Tigers were more than three-TD favorite), all they had to do was see Ole Miss' 31-30 upset at Florida or Oregon State's 27-21 shocker over USC on Thursday night.

The Bulldogs showed no early sign of being intimidated; Derek Pegues returned the opening kickoff 59 yards to the LSU 32, setting up Adam Carlson's 42-yard field goal, which put the Tigers behind in a game at home for the first time this season.

LSU tied the game on their first possession David's 38-yard field goal.

Lee, a redshirt freshman who blossomed during the second half of LSU's comeback at Auburn a week ago, continued to look solid. His 30-yard completion to LaFell set up LSU's first score.

When the Tigers faced a second-and-30 on their second drive, Lee hit LaFell on consecutive plays for gains of 18 and 14 yards to sustain a drive that ended with Scott's 1-yard TD that made it 10-3.

On LSU's next drive, Lee hit Terrance Toliver for a 31-yard gain, igniting a drive that Scott once again finished off with a forceful 1-yard score, this time on fourth down, to make it 17-3.