Williams runs for 3 TDs, LSU beats Vanderbilt 24-17

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - Josh Williams scored two rushing touchdowns, and Garrett Nussemeier passed for 332 yards as LSU triumphed over Vanderbilt 24-17 on Saturday night at Tiger Stadium.

The Tigers (7-4, 4-3 SEC) ended a three-game losing streak, their longest since the 2021 season.

“There was a lot of noise out there about LSU football and the indictments that were made so early in this program’s development,” LSU head coach Brian Kelly said. “The players didn’t listen to it, the coaches didn’t listen to it and I’m proud of them. The players took full accountability of what they wanted to do and they went out and did it.”

Leading 14-10 at halftime, LSU saw its lead narrow to 14-10 after a 47-yard field goal by Brock Taylor on the Commodores' first possession of the third quarter.

In what was arguably its most crucial drive of the game, the much-criticized Tigers offense, which had scored only 29 points in the last two weeks, executed an impressive 77-yard, 10-play scoring drive, ending with a Nussmeier 12-yard touchdown pass to Kyren Lacy, making it 21-10. The pivotal play of the drive was a 24-yard pass from Nussemeier to C.J. Daniels on a fourth down inside Vanderbilt territory.

Kelly mentioned that simplifying the game plan on both sides of the ball was a major factor in the game.

"We had five calls on defense and we ran some pass plays multiple times,” he said. “We were very consistent with our play calls on both sides. That was the mantra this week. Be committed to the call, whatever that call is, execute that call. We were not going to have a lot of calls this week. We cut out a lot. That really helped our players stay locked in on the call and be committed to the call.”

Lacy ended with 85 yards receiving and a touchdown on six catches.

First-year starter under center for the Tigers, Nussmeier said it has been a challenging month for LSU. “It’s hard for the team to not completely hear all the noise,” he said. “The core group of guys really doesn’t care what people have to say about us. We are focused on what we can control and how we can get better at it. We look forward to moving things in the right direction.”

After forcing a Vanderbilt punt on its next possession, LSU extended its lead to 24-10 with a 28-yard field goal by Damian Ramos, making it a two-score game.

Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia made it a 24-17 game late with a 1-yard touchdown run, but LSU managed to maintain possession for the final 5:47, securing the win.

Pavia finished with 43 rushing yards on six carries for Vanderbilt (6-5, 3-4) and completed 13-of-24 passes for 186 yards.

The LSU defense, which had allowed 107 points during the three-game losing streak, delivered its best performance since an Oct. 19 victory over Arkansas. Vanderbilt was limited to 308 yards of total offense.

Seeking their first win over LSU in Baton Rouge since 1951, Vanderbilt scored on the first play from scrimmage with a 63-yard touchdown pass from Pavia to Quincy Skinner.

Williams scored the first of his two touchdowns on LSU’s second possession, concluding a 90-yard drive with a 20-yard touchdown.

After stopping Vanderbilt on fourth down deep in LSU territory, an 80-yard, nine-play drive was capped by a 21-yard touchdown run by Williams, giving LSU a lasting lead at 14-7. He finished with 90 rushing yards on 14 carries.

“I just felt like I had to be a catalyst, a spark plug for the team,” Williams said. “I felt the energy after the game at Florida and I just wanted to come in this week. It’s my last two games here in the regular season so I wanted to finish it out strong. And I came in with the message that hey guys this isn’t over yet.”