LSU found itself in an early hole against the Wisconsin Badgers in the ReliaQuest Bowl, but after a comeback effort, the Tigers survived to win a 35-31 shootout in Garrett Nussmeier’s first start in an LSU uniform.
The defense was the Achilles heel all season, and it was a rough start on Monday for that unit. The Badgers scored two first-quarter touchdowns to jump out to a 14-0 lead, and LSU gave up 146 yards in the first quarter while its first three drives stalled out.
The Tigers managed to erase that deficit before half, however, with an eight-play, 60-yard touchdown drive that culminated with a handoff to linebacker [autotag]Harold Perkins[/autotag] at the goal line. Nussmeier would lead another scoring drive as [autotag]Kaleb Jackson[/autotag] found the end zone to tie the game with less than 90 seconds to play in the second quarter.
They couldn’t hold that tie, however, allowing a quick go-ahead touchdown drive, and a Nussmeier interception on the ensuing drive gave them a chance to add to the lead, which — fortunately for the Tigers — they were not able to do as the Badgers took a 21-14 lead to the locker room.
LSU gave up a touchdown drive to kick off the third quarter, but the offense responded as Nussmeier found [autotag]Brian Thomas Jr.[/autotag] with a 38-yard touchdown pass to give Thomas his 16th score of the year.
After another impressive throw to the corner of the end zone to [autotag]Chris Hilton Jr.[/autotag], the Tigers tied the game at 28.
The Badgers retook the lead with a field goal, but with the quarter winding down, Nussmeier made a couple of big connections to lead the Tigers 98 yards down the field in three minutes to score a go-ahead touchdown with 3:08 to play.
Wisconsin managed to drive all the way down to the LSU 19, but the drive stalled and the offense went backward as the Tigers earned a game-sealing stop on 4th and 25.
Nussmeier had a bit of a slow start, but he settled in very nicely to finish with 395 passing yards and three touchdowns on 31 of 45 passing. His favorite target was [autotag]Brian Thomas Jr.[/autotag], who had eight catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns.
[autotag]Malik Nabers[/autotag] made the start and set LSU’s career receiving yards record, but he would sit the rest of the game after achieving the record.
Nussmeier gave the Tigers a glimpse at what the future could hold on offense, and it’s bright even with Daniels, Nabers and Thomas heading off to the NFL.
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