No. 1 LSU beats Tennessee 38-7

Even when top-ranked LSU isn’t playing its best, the Tigers are still finding ways to dominate games. Jarrett Lee and LSU got off to a slower start than usual against Tennessee but wore the Volunteers down in a 38-7 victory on Saturday. It was a record sixth straight victory over a Southeastern Conference East Division opponent for the Tigers, and their seventh consecutive win by a double-digit margin.

“I felt like we did what we needed to do,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “It wasn’t our best game, but we did what we had to do to ensure victory. Our defense gave us turnovers and the opportunities to take the opponent out. Our offense late in the game gave us the football and ate up the time of possession and scored.”

Matt Simms, making his first start of the season for Tennessee in place of the injured Tyler Bray, was 6 of 20 for 128 yards and two interceptions against one of the nation’s best defense. Twice LSU (7-0, 4-0) started drives on Tennessee’s side of the field, and both times the Tigers turned the field position into touchdowns.

“It wasn’t a really complex game,” Tennessee coach Derek Dooley said. “In the first half, I thought we competed our tails off and had a couple of real bad mistakes that was ultimately the difference in the first half. In the second half, we had a couple of third-down opportunities where we didn’t execute and they pounded us. I don’t know any other way to say it.”

Aside from LSU’s 99 yards on interception returns, the teams played almost evenly through the first half. The Vols kept from falling apart, even as Simms threw another interception midway through the second quarter. Tennessee’s defense held LSU after the pick, and the offense put together an 80-yard drive.

“We have had problems in the running game, but we just tried to put it on our back as an offensive line, hit them in the mouth and try to build momentum,” Tennessee offensive tackle Ja’Wuan James said. “We left the first half with some momentum. We need to keep pushing each other and execute in the second half.”