THE OFFICIAL HOME OF McNEESE ATHLETICS

BATON ROUGE - Jamaal Levi scored both of McNeese's touchdowns within 1:16 of each other as the Cowboys battled hard against 11th-ranked LSU in a 63-14 loss in front of a sellout crowd of 102,321 in Tiger Stadium on Saturday night.
 
Trailing 49-0 late in the third quarter, Levi reeled in a screen pass from backup quarterback Brady Barrier, made a move on the defender, and outsprinted the Tigers for a 43-yard touchdown to put McNeese on the board.
 
After the Cowboys held the Tigers to a second straight three-and-out series, Levi took a toss from Hutch Swilley on a reverse, got a nice block from lineman Aaron Session, and scored on a 64-yard run to cut margin to 49-14.
 
LSU scored two, fourth quarter touchdowns to cap the scoring.
 
McNeese fell to 2-4 on the season while completing non-conference play. Following next week's open date, the Cowboys return to Southland Conference action with a visit to Northwestern State on October 17 for a noon kickoff. LSU improved to 4-1 on the season after its second-straight win.
 
LSU rolled up 731 total offensive yards, 367 in the ground game. McNeese finished with 196 total yards, 102 rushing and 94 passing.
 
Starting quarterback Jake Strong completed 3 of 10 passes for 20 yards and an interception and was sacked twice. Barrier, playing most of the second half, completed 5 of 7 for 74 yards and a touchdown.
 
Sam Leavitt completed 18 of 23 passes for 176 yards, three touchdowns and an interception to lead three LSU QBs. Two Tiger running backs topped the 100-yard mark - Harlem Berry rushing for 125 and a touchdown while Stacy Gage picked up 110 yards and a score.
 
Defensively, Landon Barrett recorded his second straight double-digit tackle game with a team-high 10 stops. Lorenzell Dubose picked off his first career pass.
 
McNeese possessed the ball to start the game and looked good moving the ball to the LSU 45 after an 11-yard pass from Jake Strong to Curtis Deville then a 17-yard run by Omiri Wiggins. On third-and-8, Strong's forced pass was intercepted by Tamarcus Cooley at the 31 and returned 21 yards to the McNeese 48.
 
LSU scored on the ensuing possession on a Dilin Jones 1-yard run off a direct snap to make it 7-0 with 9:23 to play in the first quarter.
 
McNeese gained 30 yards on its opening possession and was held to minus-2 yards the rest of the half as the Cowboys went three-and-out the next five possession of the half.
 
LSU (4-1), meanwhile, scored touchdowns on five of its six first half possessions to take a 35-0 lead into the locker room. The lone non scoring possession occurred early in the second quarter when quarterback Sam Leavitt's pass was intercepted by McNeese's Lorenzell Dubose at the Cowboys' 2.
 
Tigers scored touchdowns on their first two possessions in the second half - a 1-yard plunge by Geralds and an 11-yard run by Berry, upping the score to 49-0 with 8:22 to play in the third.
 
The Cowboys picked up 165 of its total yards in the second half.