Richie Williams


JaMarcus Russell

Justin Vincent

Tigers gang tackle.

Andrew Whitworth

David Jones

Rudy Niswanger

JaMarcus Russell

Trey Elder

• Appalachian State from Boone NC had been a consistent power in the Southern Conference in 1-AA football (as it was called before the term Football Champion­ship Subdivision was inaugurated by the NCAA several years later).
• Coach Jerry Moore came to Baton Rouge with a 134-66 record since he took over in 1989.
• His 2005 squad was ranked No. 7 in the I-AA poll. Their two losses in eight games had come at Kansas by a 36-8 count and 34-31 to Furman, the No. 1 ranked team in the I-AA ranks.
• The Mountaineers were led by the QB-RB combo of senior Richie Williams and sophomore Kevin Richardson. Williams, a top candidate for the Walter Payton Award given to the top player in I-AA football, was Appalachian's all-time leader in passing yards and total offense. He averaged 221.9y passing and 300.4y of total offense per game. Richardson led the Southern Conference with 137.2 all-purpose yards per contest.
  Coastal Carolina Coach David Bennett praised the ASU QB. Richie Williams is probably the Michael Vick of I-AA football. You're not going to stop him. You have to try to slow him down a little bit and score a lot of points to stay in the ballgame.
  Wofford coach Mike Ayers: Williams is a playmaker. Even when plays look like they will be bad for them, he creates good stuff.
• Coach Moore had won five games against I-A opponents with all of them coming at the expense of Wake Forest.
  Appalachian State faced the same problem as other Tiger opponents in 2005 - lack of hotel space in Baton Rouge because of the influx of Katrina refugees. Moore explained after the game what his team went through that day. When you think about leaving Boone at six o'clock in the morning, we actually left at seven to go eat breakfast at the training table, and then we took a bus to Greens­boro, caught a flight out of there and got into here around one o'clock. The hotel we stayed at fixed us some places to lie around, some banquet kind of rooms. The players watched TV till three, central time, and then ate their pre-game meal.
• The game would be the first LSU contest of the season that would not be televised.

A homecoming crowd of 91,414 saw a lackluster performance by their Tigers that saw the visitors outgain the home team on the ground.

• Q1: The Tigers jumped to a 7-0 lead on the first possession of the game. Mixing runs and short passes, LSU covered 72y in seven plays. JaMarcus Russell threaded the needle between three DBs to WR Dwayne Bowe for a 9y TD. That made the 6-6 QB 5-for-5 on the march, including 15-yarders to Craig Davis and Bowe. LSU 7 Appalachian State 0 (11:02)
  
  Dwayne Bowe tries to elude a tackler.
  The Mountaineers responded by moving the ball rapidly across midfield thanks largely to a 20y 1st down pass from Williams to WR Jermaine Little. But the advance stalled at the LSU 45.
  After forcing a three-and-out, ASU took over on their 12. On 3rd-and-17 from the 5, Williams showed why he was one of the top players in I-AA. He broke through the blitz and raced down the field for 35y. But the Mountaineers didn't go past midfield and punted.
  Starting from the 20, LSU doubled its lead. Justin Vincent toted the leather six times for 58y.
• Q2: Vincent ran in from the 1 on the first play of the period. LSU 14 Appalachian State 0 (11:56)
  The Tiger defense stopped ASU and forced a punt. However, a holding penalty on the kick made it 1st-and-10 on the 35. The Mountaineers reached their 49 before they had to punt.
  After another exchange of kicks, the Tigers moved across midfield on a 21y Rus­sell-Bowe connection to the ASU 45. But three incompletions led to a punt.
  The Mountaineers drove 36y to midfield as the half ended.
  Halftime score: LSU 14 Appalachian State 0
  
  Chase Pittman tries to tackle Richie Williams.

• Q3: When ASU couldn't move with the kickoff, the Tigers drove to the 21 before stalling. Chris Jackson tried a 38y FG but the boot fell woefully short, landing in the North EZ as many in the thinning crowd groaned.
  The Mountaineers then mounted their most productive advance of the evening. Instead of stalling near midfield, they kept chugging to the 15 where Ronnie Prude dropped Williams for a loss of a yard on 3rd-and-4. That gave PK Julian Rauch a chance to break the shutout. But - shades of the Auburn game - his 33y kick bounced off the right upright with 3:19 remaining in the period.
  Just as they did late in Q1, the Tigers started a TD march that carried over into the next period. Russell started with an 18y aerial to TE David Jones and later hit another TE, Keith Zinger, for 22 to the ASU 30.
  
  Justin Vincent struggles for yardage.
• Q4: Russell connected with Bowe for 17y to the 10. Three plays later, JaMarcus found Zinger open in the EZ for a 9y TD. It was the 10th play of the 80y drive. LSU 21 Appalachian State 0 (13:22)
  Trey Elder came in at QB for the Mountaineers and played the rest of the game.
  LSU added three points when Jackson kicked a 34y FG to end a seven-play 39y drive. LSU 24 Appalachian State 0 (7:01)
  With both teams running the ball, the remaining time expired quickly. Matt Flynn quarterbacked LSU's last series.
  FINAL: LSU 24 APPALACHIAN STATE 0

Matt Flynn avoids a rusher.