BATON ROUGE, La. -- Jonathan Zenon returned an interception for a touchdown for the second consecutive week, highlighting a smothering defensive performance by No. 8 LSU in a 45-3 victory over Arizona on Saturday night.
Arizona had only 54 total yards through the first three quarters. The rest of the Wildcats' yardage came after replacements had begun to take over and a boisterous crowd of 92,218 was half gone.
Although the Tigers (2-0) put up 45 points for a second-straight week, they could have scored more. They settled for a field goal on their opening drive after having a first-and-goal on the 3-yard line. Three other drives ended with turnovers in Arizona territory on two fumbles and an interception.
LSU may not get away with squandering scoring chances next week in a Southeastern Conference showdown at No. 4 Auburn (2-0), which beat Mississippi State 34-0 on Saturday.
Against Arizona (1-1), it wasn't a factor.
LSU fullback Jacob Hester scored two TDs, his first on a 5-yard pass from JaMarcus Russell to cap a short drive set up by B.J. Dennard's fumbled kickoff return. Jacob Hester ran for a 28-yard score in the third quarter.
Alley Broussard continued his encouraging return from a knee injury, hopping sprawled defenders at the line of scrimmage and slipping another tackle for a 17-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. It was his second touchdown of the young season.
And Russell later found Dwayne Bowe on an 29-yard touchdown pass which made the score 38-0 with five minutes still remaining in the third quarter.
Russell was 13-of-20 passing for 198 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He came out of the game in the third quarter for the second week in a row.
Without a strong running game, Arizona needed to pass well. LSU countered with a relentless mix of linebacker and safety blitzes that had Willie Tuitama throwing hurriedly and usually off the mark.
He was sacked three times, and once barely managed to throw the ball away as he was pounded down hard on his back by safety LaRon Landry, who later had an interception.
Tuitama finished 8-for-17 for 50 yards and two interceptions, including the 41-yard touchdown return by Jonathan Zenon.
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