Week 1 featured several rookies making big impacts. You had big names like Leonard Fournette hitting the ground running, and Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt lighting the world on fire. Included among those is Kenny Golladay, the Lions’ 3rd round pick, who had two touchdown catches including a beautiful diving effort on a long 45-yard bomb in the 4th quarter. More
Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett is in basically the same situation as Christian McCaffrey and Leonard Fournette.
McCaffrey and Fournette, star running backs at Stanford and LSU, have opted not to participate in their team’s bowl games to begin preparing (read: not get injured) for the NFL and its draft process. McCaffrey and Fournette, both juniors, are considered to be potential first-round picks. More
Leonard Fournette is following in Dez Bryant’s footsteps … he just signed with Jay Z‘s Roc Nation Sports to rep him as he prepares for the NFL Draft.
The LSU running back is widely considered to be a 1st round pick — and was one…
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Derrius Guice stuffed a Texas A&M turkey full of yards and touchdowns Thursday night while Leonard Fournette could only watch on television back home with his ankle injury.
Guice, LSU’s No. 2 tailback, filled in for the injured Fournette and then some as he broke the school record for yards in a game set by Fournette just last month by gaining 285 yards on 37 carries while scoring four touchdowns to lead the No. 25 Tigers over No. 22 Texas A&M, 54-39, in front of 102,961 at Kyle Field.
“He’s no surprise to us,” said Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin, who watched Guice gain 79 yards on 10 carries in a 19-7 win over the Aggies last season. “He’s a home run hitter.”
LSU (7-4, 5-3 Southeastern Conference) finished the regular season with a flourish, totaling 622 yards as quarterback Danny Etling also played his best game as a Tiger, completing 20 of 28 passes for 324 yards and two touchdowns. It was the second most total yards ever for an LSU road team. The Tigers gained 630 in a win over Ole Miss in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1987. And all 622 came against former LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis, who is still embroiled in a lawsuit over his contract buyout with LSU.
“We couldn’t get off the field on defense in the second half,” said Sumlin, who watched Chavis’ defense allow 34 points and 346 yards in the second half. “It wasn’t third down. It was getting off the field. There were issues. It was first and second down.”
It was just about every down.
The Tigers took a 7-0 lead with 13:16 to go in the first quarter on Guice’s first touchdown – a 45-yard scamper. He added another 45-yard touchdown early in the third quarter for a 27-10 lead, then scored on a 6-yard run for a 34-10 lead with 7:45 to play. He scored his last touchdown on a 1-yard run for a 54-33 lead with 4:59 to go.
Fournette had set the game rushing record on Oct. 22 against Ole Miss when he shook off his season-long ankle injury after missing the previous game, gaining 284 yards on 16 carries with three touchdowns against the Rebels.
Guice, who suffered two critical fumbles inside the 10-yard line in the 16-10 loss to Florida last week and ran the wrong way on the ill-fated last play of the game from the Gators’ 1, held onto the ball…
No Leonard Fournette, no problem. Behind the rushing attack of Derrius Guice and the arm of Danny Etling, LSU thumped Texas A&M, 54-39, Thursday night at Kyle Field.
Guice set an LSU single-game rushing record with 285 yards while scoring four touchdowns on the ground, as ESPN CollegeFootball noted:
Derrius Guice just passed Leonard Fournette to set the record for most rush yards in a single game in LSU history with 285 yards. pic.twitter.com/NGYnO9pUA7
— ESPN CollegeFootball (@ESPNCFB) November 25, 2016
Etling added 324 yards through the air with two touchdowns as the two made history, per ESPN Stats & Info:
This is the first time in LSU history that the Tigers have had a 300-yard passer and 200-yard rusher in the same game.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 25, 2016
Without its star running back, Fournette—who didn’t travel with the team due to an ankle injury—LSU entered the game with an uphill battle on the road.
But Guice was quick to show he could carry the backfield, rumbling through the Texas A&M defense for a 45-yard touchdown on the Tigers’ first drive.
It was a perfect jolt for Yahoo Sports’ Dr. Saturday after a Thanksgiving feast:
That didn’t take long for LSU… Derrius Guice with a 45-yard TD run.
WAKE UP FROM YOUR FOOD COMA AND WATCH FOOTBALL
— Dr. Saturday (@YahooDrSaturday) November 25, 2016
ESPN’s Carley McCord was buying the early hype:
— Carley McCord (@CarleyMcCord) November 25, 2016
He had been doing this all season, though, as Billy Embody of Scout.com broke down how valuable he’s been:
Derrius Guice is now the 12th player in #LSU history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season.
Does so averaging nearly 8.4 yards per carry.
— Billy Embody (@BillyEmbody) November 25, 2016
Texas A&M answered through the air with 6:05 left in the first when quarterback Trevor Knight hit Christian Kirk with a 36-yard touchdown to help tie things up.
Battling a shoulder injury, Knight looked fine to CBSSports.com’s Brad Crawford:
One of the best throws I’ve seen in the SEC this season right there from Trevor Knight. Dropped it in there to Christian Kirk.
— Brad Crawford (@BCrawford247) November 25, 2016
Knight threw for three touchdowns along with 211 yards before injuring his knee in the fourth quarter and leaving the game. Jake Hubenak attempted seven passes in Knight’s absence, completing three for 73 yards.
That touchdown to Kirk was all the success the Aggies would see in the first half, though, as LSU dominated the second quarter.
After a pair of Colby Delahoussaye field goals put the Tigers up 13-7, LSU linebacker Devin White stripped Trayveon Williams at A&M’s 20-yard line to give the Tigers a short field with 43 seconds left.
Just 11 seconds later, Etling hit Malachi Dupre to help put LSU up 20-7 at the half. Just like…