No. 5 LSU tunes up for Alabama by beating WKU on ground & through air

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Brandon Harris passed for a career-high 286 yards, with two of his three scoring passes going for more than 50 yards, and No. 5 LSU beat Western Kentucky 48-20 on Saturday night.

Leonard Fournette ran for 150 yards and a short touchdown on a soggy field, giving him 1,352 yards rushing and 15 TDs this season.

Now LSU (7-0), which has next weekend off, can look forward to another huge showdown with Alabama (7-1) on Nov. 7 in Tuscaloosa. The eighth-ranked Crimson Tide, which also has next weekend off, beat Tennessee on Saturday.

The Hilltoppers (6-2) were as close to the Tigers as 17-13 on Brandon Doughty's 39-yard touchdown pass to Antwane Grant in the third quarter, but LSU (7-0) scored the next 17 points.

Malachi Dupre caught a 55-yard scoring pass on LSU's opening series. Tigers freshman Tyron Johnson made a tough downfield catch over defender Wonderful Terry, then scampered about 20 yards for his 61-yard score in the third quarter. Travin Dural, who had five catches for 132 yards, caught a 17-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Doughty, who came in averaging 387 yards passing, finished 37 of 61 for 325 yards, three TDs and one interception. Taywan Taylor had 10 catches for 103 yards and one TD for WKU.

LSU finished with 211 yards rushing, well below its average of 325.5 yards coming in. Derrius Guice wound up with the Tigers' longest run -- a late 47-yard touchdown dash.

WKU's defense sold out to stop the run, and Fournette in particular. The Hilltoppers kept LSU's star running back from breaking loose for much of the game, but the Tigers countered with several big passing plays.

After opening with four Fournette rushes for 15 yards on its first series, LSU took a 7-0 lead on Harris' deep throw to Dupre.

Yet LSU stuck with running plays for most of the first half with less success than usual, gaining just 82 yards on 23 carries.

Western Kentucky, which came into the game averaging 535.4 yards and 44 points, could not move the ball at its usual pace against LSU's defense, but managed to tie the game on its fifth possession. D'Andre Ferby broke loose for a 35-yard run, setting up Anthony Wales' 7-yard touchdown on a shovel pass from Doughty.

Harris attempted only nine passes in the first half, completing four. One of those completions, however, went for 67 yards to Dural, setting up Darrel Williams' 2-yard run that gave LSU a 14-7 lead at halftime.

LSU place kicker Trent Domingue, who scored a touchdown on a fake against Florida a week earlier, went back to his usual routine, hitting a pair of field goals to make him 9 of 9 this season. His second, from 43 yards made it 20-13.

Harris set up Fournette's 1-yard TD by completing a 25-yard pass to Dupre moments before he was leveled by linebacker Dejon Brown. Brown was flagged for targeting and ejected.

Western Kentucky finished with 428 yards, more than 100 yards below its average coming in, while LSU racked up 497 yards.