Leonard Fournette sends awesome tweet about Syracuse greats

LSU opened the scoring in the first on a six-play, 91-yard drive capped off by a 14-yard touchdown run from Fournette at the 3:56 mark.

The Bayou Bengals certainly helped Syracuse by committing 14 penalties totaling 120 yards, but the Orange were game throughout, permitting the visitors to convert only 3-of-10 third downs. In the last seven seasons, the leading rusher outpaced the runner-up by 18, 7, 3, 9, 3, 10 and 15 yards.

With starter Terrel Hunt out for the season following an injury in the first game of the year, and backup QB Eric Dungey also sidelined with an injury, untested walk-on Zack Mahoney was respectable under center, passing for 154 yards and three touchdowns.

Trent Domingue converted a field goal early, and Tre’Davious White returned a punt 69 yards for a touchdown.

Kemper had 147 yards on 13 carries to lead Army, which got a TD run from former NV/Old Tappan star John Trainor. On second-and-8 from his 37, Harris appeared to be taken down by Syracuse’s Ron Thronton but pitched to Fournette, who galloped 48 yards along the left sideline to the Syracuse 15.

Fournette also remained the top candidate for the Heisman Trophy as he leads the nation with 631 yards on 73 carries and is second in the country in touchdowns with eight.

LSU’s trip to Syracuse probably went exactly as we all should have expected on Saturday afternoon: It was sluggish and closer than it should have been, but Leonard Fournette still dominated the game.

“As a football team we won, and we did so in a sloppy manner”, LSU coach Les Miles said.

“I got to tell you, I’m impressed with LSU fans”. “The opportunity for a guy to step on the field and do what he did last week gives a lot of people confidence”. At halftime, the score was a tight 7-3.

Prior to that play, Mahoney had been on a hot streak for Syracuse. And the defense held LSU to only 3-of-10 on third-down conversions. Harris completed third-down passes of 8 and 42 yards to Dupre before Fournette ran 7 yards to setup first-and-goal at the Orange 9. By that time, Auburn had built what proved to be an insurmountable 3-0 lead on Wes Byrum’s 35-yard field goal in the second quarter. If he continues to pursue, it’s a 15-yard personal foul penalty.

Brisly Estime returned that punt 16 yards to the Syracuse 40. This will be just LSU’s third regular season day game in September on national television by a major network since 2007.

Next week, Fournette will have the chance to rest up and pad his stats against Eastern Michigan before the Tigers dive right back into the SEC schedule.

Later, he had a 62-yard touchdown run that was not taken away after he broke through the middle of the line and couldn’t be caught. The four-play, 75-yard drive again put the Tigers up 14 points, 24-10, with 4:09 left in the quarter. A week ago against Auburn, the LSU running back wasn’t even touched in the backfield.

With Syracuse trailing 31-17 after another LSU, Mahoney’s interception came on SU’s next possession. Miles will keep the contact minimal in practice and let Fournette do his thing on game day. While comparing defenses, the LSU Tigers own the league’s No. 58 rank in terms of road run defense, allowing 173.6 yards per game.

Of course that’s premature, and maybe a bit silly, but just watch Fournette run wild on an average Saturday and it seems reasonable to use your imagination and speculate about the possibilities.

LSU led 34-17 with 5:11 to play. He threw a 38-yard TD pass to Michael Thomas on the Buckeyes’ first series and added a 37-yard scoring pass to Jalin Marshall early in the second.