BATON ROUGE, Louisiana — Garrett Nussmeier threw for 352 yards and three touchdowns, and No. 16 LSU outscored UCLA 17-0 in the second half for a narrow 34-17 victory on Saturday.
However, LSU was without the services of linebacker Harold Perkins, who was selected for the All-America team in the preseason when he injured his right knee during a tackle in the fourth quarter.
Perkins needed help getting to the sideline. Minutes later, he walked carefully into the locker room with a towel over his head, flanked by trainers on either side.
At that point, LSU (3-1) had already led by two touchdowns and scored a field goal with 5:48 minutes left, which meant the third win in a row for the Tigers.
Mason Taylor had eight catches for 77 yards, surpassing Richard Dickson as the most productive tight end in LSU history; he now has 999 career receiving yards.
Nussmeier completed 32 of 44 passes, his standout being a 42-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Parker deep down the right sideline, and he didn’t lose the ball.
Rising LSU running back Caden Durham made a 35-yard catch-and-run. Josh Williams’ 2-yard touchdown run in the third quarter gave the Tigers the lead for good. Aaron Anderson finished the game with six catches for 75 yards.
Ethan Garbers threw for 281 yards and two touchdowns for UCLA (1-2), but lost a fumble in the first half and was intercepted in the second half.
LSU entered the game as favorites with a lead of more than three touchdowns, but the first half was close.
Both teams gained 75 yards and scored touchdowns on their first possessions. LSU’s Zavion Thomas scored on a 5-yard pass and UCLA’s Jack Pedersen scored on a 20-yard catch.
UCLA led 10-7 before Parker scored to make it 14-10.
LSU defensive end Bradyn Swinson, who had three sacks a week earlier, recorded two against UCLA. The second sack resulted in Garbers losing the ball in Bruins territory, allowing an LSU field goal to make it 17-10.
But the Bruins equalized in the final seconds of the first half with an eleven-yard touchdown pass to Logan Loya, which Garbers played just as Loya was being hit hard.
UCLA: The Bruins responded well to their humiliating 42-13 home loss to Indiana a week earlier. Battling the oppressive heat and humidity of an early-season day game in southern Louisiana – not to mention a hostile Death Valley crowd – UCLA went neck-and-neck with the Tigers for 2 1/2 quarters.
LSU: Giving up 17 first-half points to an offense that hadn’t scored more than 16 points in the previous two games didn’t bode well for the Tigers’ defense or highly paid ($2.5 million per year) first-year coordinator Blake Baker. But the unit responded well in the second half.
UCLA returns home on Saturday to open Big Ten play against another Pac-12 defector, No. 9 Oregon.
LSU hosts South Alabama on Saturday in a final non-conference game before seven straight games against SEC opponents.
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