Let's dive right in to those numbers which made the game what it was... a pretty boring dismantling of an inferior opponent.
260 - LSU's yards in the second half. LSU only generated 132 yards in the first half, so the team apparently threw half of the playbook in the trash and just ran down Vandy's throats.
8 - Number of incompletions Jordan Jefferson threw in a row. He did not complete a single pass in the second quarter. He would rebound slightly in the second half, going 5 for 7 for 58 yards. He would not throw a single pass in the fourth quarter. It's hard to exactly quantify how lousy Jefferson was on Saturday, but we do have ATVSQBPI...
2.33 - Jefferson's ATVSQBPI last night. It's 3.92 on the season. That means Jefferson is worth less than 4 yards whenever we call his number. That is barely acceptable for a running back, horrible for a quarterback.
33:49 - LSU's time of possession. It's been a while since LSU won TOP, and we won it almost every quarter, especially in the second half. LSU also had 71 offensive snaps to Vandy's 48. Ball control works.
23 for 128 - LSU's plays for yards on the first two drives of the second half. Sure, those drives only yielded 3 points, but it was like watching a different team. Most of LSU's advantage in yards, plays, and time of possession stems from those two third quarter drives, which ate up the entire period. The big plays came in the fourth, but it was set up by the wearing down of Vandy's defense in the third.
39.3 - Vandy's yard per punt. Let's give credit, Vandy outplayed us on special teams. They largely bottled up Patrick Peterson, and they consistently flipped the field on their punts. Field position kept Vandy in this game. They forced LSU to drive the length of the field on almost every drive.
3 - LSU fumbles, all recovered by LSU. Fumble recovery is largely luck, but fumbling is not. LSU now has 8 fumbles in two games. Lock it down, guys. Stevan Ridley to the lesson to heart: 0 fumbles. Jefferson? Well, it was another problem with his game on Saturday. If you're gonna have a lousy night throwing the ball, the least you can do is take care of the football.
6 - LSU players, aside from Jefferson, who got a carry. Ridley got the bulk of the carries, but five other Tigers combined for 20 carries. Which makes it nearly unconscionable that Jefferson has 13 carries as well. I don't want to seem like I'm picking on the guy, but he had a terrible game and worse yet, we kept calling his number. Jefferson averaged 1 yard per carry. Ridley averaged 9.4. Everyone else combined to average 5.4.
2.0 - Vanderbilt's yards per carry. Our run defense looks really, really good so far.
6 - Sacks by the LSU defense. Our pass rush looks really, really good so far.
30 - Terrance Tolliver's receiving yards. That tied with Rueben Randle to lead the team. 30 yards is all it took to lead the team in receiving yards. Ouch.