Costello’s 623 yards lead Miss. St. past LSU, 44-34
BATON ROUGE, La. — K.J. Costello passed for an SEC record 623 yards and five touchdowns in the Mississippi State debut of coach Mike Leach’s “Air Raid” offense, and the Bulldogs knocked off sixth-ranked and defending national champion LSU, 44-34, on Saturday.
Costello’s passing yardage in his first game since transferring from Stanford to Starkville, Mississippi, eclipsed the 544 yards Georgia’s Eric Zeier had against Southern Mississippi in 1993 to set the Southeastern Conference record.
And Costello needed most of it to make up for his two interceptions and two lost fumbles, which helped LSU rally to tie the game at 34 before he engineered a pair of scoring drives in the final 10 minutes.
LSU became the first defending national champion to lose its opening game since Michigan in 1998 lost at Notre Dame.
LSU quarterback Myles Brennan intermittently showed promise in his debut as starter in place of 2019 Heisman Trophy winner and 2020 top NFL draft choice Joe Burrow. But Brennan’s 345 yards and three touchdowns passing could not make up for the trouble the Tigers’ inexperienced defense had in new coordinator Bo Pelini’s scheme.
Four of Costello’s touchdown passes covered between 24 and 75 yards. The longest came on Kylin Hill’s catch and run in which the running back slipped safety Todd Harris’ tackle along the sideline to break into the clear. Osirus Mitchell caught touchdown passes of 43 and 24 yards, the second putting the Bulldogs back up by two scores with 3:39 left. Tyrell
Shavers caught a 31-yard touchdown pass and Austin Williams had a 9-yard TD catch.
LSU transfer linebacker Jabril Cox, who played at FCS power North Dakota State, scored LSU’s opening touchdown on an interception and 14-yard return.
Terrace Marshall Jr. had touchdown catches of 37 and 33 yards, while freshman tight end Arik Gilbert leaped in front of a defender to turn Brennan’s desperate throw as he was going down into a 2-yard score.
But Brennan often struggled to make quick and decisive reads.
He was sacked seven times and the first of his two interceptions came when linebacker Jordan Davis hit the QB’s elbow as he threw. The ball went straight to cornerback Esaias Furdge at the Bulldogs 24.
Florida 51, Ole Miss 35
OXFORD, Miss. — Kyle Pitts caught four of Kyle Trask’s six touchdown passes and Florida spoiled coach Lane Kiffin’s Mississippi debut.
Trask completed 30 of 42 passes for 416 yards, throwing touchdown passes of 1, 16, 71 and 17 yards to Pitts. The star tight end had 170 yards receiving in the season and Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.
Trask directed four consecutive touchdown drives that spanned the second and third quarters to help the Gators build a 41-14 lead for the Gators (1-0 Southeastern Conference).
Kiffin, the former Tennessee and Southern California head coach who came to Ole Miss from FAU, had the Rebels’ offense humming with Matt Corral at quarterback. Corral completed 22 of 31 passes for 395 yards and three touchdowns passes, two to Dontario Drummond. But they couldn’t
stop the Gators.
Auburn 29, Kentucky 13
AUBURN, Ala. — Bo Nix threw for 233 yards and three second-half touchdowns, including a pair to Seth Williams, and Auburn scored twice in the fourth quarter to pull away from Kentucky in the season opener.
The Tigers turned a three-quarter scare into a comfortable win by capitalizing on a late turnover and Kentucky’s failed fake punt in the lone Top 25 matchup of the Southeastern Conference’s opening weekend.
Nix delivered some big plays to start an encore to a promising freshman season, especially to Williams. He completed 16 of 27 passes and also ran for 34 yards.
Kentucky quarterback Terry Wilson returned from a knee injury that cost him most of last season. He completed 24 of 37 passes for 239 yards and ran for 42 yards.