LSU football gets five Max Johnson touchdown passes for easy win vs Central Michigan

BATON ROUGE – Max Johnson threw five touchdown passes as LSU football rolled to a 49-21  win over Central Michigan on Saturday night at Tiger Stadium.

After four first-half TD passes, Johnson had a 21-yard TD throw to Devonta Lee in the third quarter. But the lefty made his first major mistake later in the quarter and Devonni Reed returned an interception 20 yards for a touchdown.

Corey Kiner followed a Daniel Richardson touchdown pass to Joel Wilson for Central Michigan (1-2) with a 5-yard TD run for LSU (2-1) in the fourth quarter.

LSU opened with Johnson finding Deion Smith on a 28-yard throw, capping an eight-play, 65-yard drive. Central Michigan's opening drive went awry when Derek Stingley Jr. popped running back Darius Bracy, allowing Andre Anthony to score with the 33-yard fumble recovery.

Johnson later found Smith for a 40-yard TD, helping to make it 21-0. Jacob Sirmon, however, connected with JaCorey Sullivan for a 78-yard TD pass before the opening quarter was done.

LSU went into halftime up 35-7 behind second-quarter TD throws of 2 yards to Kayshon Boutte and 20 yards to St. Thomas More High product Jack Bech, who made a one-handed grab.

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Max Johnson was spot-on

Johnson, making his fifth career start, had it going in the first half, giving the Tigers a shot of confidence their offense very much needed.

Johnson was 20-of-25 for 280 yards and the four TDs before the break. He finished 26-of-35 for 372 yards and the five TDs.

Johnson spread the ball out, too, showing it is not just Boutte's hands on which the Tigers must rely. The TDs for Bech and Smith were their first as Tigers.

LSU defense made it happen

The Tigers defense was on top of its game early on, too.

Central Michigan's first two drives ended in turnovers, with Stingley causing Bracy to fumble with a hard hit following a 3-yard reception and Major Burns jumping a route to pick off Jacob Sirmon.

LSU did get caught in busted coverage on Central Michigan's lone first-half touchdown, though, so not all was perfect.

Tigers offensive line jumbled again

With Cam Wire out as expected, Xavier Hill started again at left tackle. Backup center Charles Turner also was out. But Chasen Hines was back at right guard to start ahead of backup Marlon Martinez, who opened against McNeese, and Austin Deculus was back at right tackle. Deculus got injured again in the second half.

It is a puzzle with a lot of jumbled pieces, and probably not the sort of continuity LSU would want going into its SEC opener at Mississippi State.

LSU running backs thin

Luckily for LSU it did not have to rely on its ground game.

Coach Ed Orgeron announced Monday that John Emery Jr. will miss the rest of the season and freshman Armoni Goodwin, who made his debut against McNeese, did not play due to injury.

LSU had just 25 yards on 10 first-half carries, but with the air attack working it really didn't matter.

The Tigers were inspired

LSU played with a purpose following the death Monday of Kevione Faulk, a student football team worker. LSU players all wore a "KF" helmet sticker honoring Faulk, whose 20th birthday would have been Friday.

Faulk was the daughter of LSU running backs coach Kevin Faulk, a Lafayette native who played at Carencro High and LSU before contributing to three Super Bowl victories for the New England Patriots.

Her cause of death has not been made public.