BATON ROUGE — LSU defeated the UCLA Bruins 34 to 17 Saturday afternoon in Death Valley. The Tigers held the Bruins scoreless in the second half.

Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier went 32-44 passing for 352 yards and three touchdowns. Against the Bruins, Mason Taylor passed Richard Dixon for the most career receiving yards by an LSU tight end. 

The Tigers quickly found the end zone to start this SEC versus Big Ten matchup against the Bruins. On the first drive, Nussmeier went 4-4 passing and capped off the drive with a jet touch pass to receiver Zavion Thomas for a five-yard touchdown to put the Tigers up early.

The Bruins responded with a 75-yard drive of their own that ended with UCLA’s quarterback, Ethan Garbers finding tight end Jack Pedersen for the 20-yard score.

UCLA added a field goal to take the lead right before the end of the first quarter after a successful 47-yard attempt. 

The Tigers responded quickly to start the second quarter as Nussmeier found redshirt freshman Kyle Parker for a 45-yard touchdown pass to regain the lead.

LSU’s defense stepped up midway through the second quarter as defensive end Bradyn Swinson got to the Bruins’ quarterback and caused a strip sack. Defensive end Sai’vion Jones hopped on the loose ball for the Tigers.

The Tigers capitalized on the good field possession to extend their lead to seven points with a 22-yard field goal from placekicker Damian Ramos.

UCLA gained momentum heading to the break as they drove down the field at the end of the half to tie the game back up at 17 apiece after an 11-yard touchdown pass from Garbers.

The Tigers came out on their first possession of the third quarter and capped off a 96-yard drive with a 2-yard rushing touchdown from running back Josh Williams. 

LSU extended its lead to 14 points near the beginning of the first quarter as Nussmeier connected with freshman running back Caden Durham for a 35-yard touchdown reception.

Ramos would hit a 32-yard field goal midway through the 4th quarter to give LSU a 17-point advantage over UCLA.

LSU moves to 3-1 on the season and will face the South Alabama Jaguars on Saturday, September 28th inside of Tiger Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:45 P.M.