LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt has been part of a run to the College Football Playoff. The Arizona State transfer needed seven games with the Tigers to come up what he believed to be the most spotless game of his career.
Another flare up with a nagging hamstring injury in practice kept Leavitt in the pocket the majority the game with Mississippi State and the junior delivered his best game for LSU. He completd 31 of 38 passes for 289 yards and tied his career-high with four touchdowns in the No. 22 Tigers’ 31-0 shutout Saturday of the No. 16 Bulldogs before a sellout crowd of 102,321 in Tiger Stadium.
“I thought it was one of my cleaner days in my career, maybe the cleanest,” said Leavitt, whose 82% completion percentage didn’t include an interception for the first time this season. “I felt like I played a pretty easy game, just getting the ball out to my guys and have them go out and make plays. We did an incredible job with playcalling and situational ball.”
Leavitt established a career-high for completions and his four touchdowns matched that output in game Arizona State played against Kansas in 2024.
“The big thing for us going into the week was getting up and playing fast,” Leavitt said. “They didn’t do a great job of getting lined up. Props to our O-line. I was pushing the tempo all day. Always having positive plays.”
He did with through the reliance on his right arm and not the ability of his two legs.
Leavitt, the team’s leading rusher to Dilin Jones coming into the game with 327 yards and a team-best seven TDs, was limited to four carries for 11 yards.
“He really didn’t practice,” LSU football coach Lane Kiffin said of Leavitt. “We knew he was still going to play. But we knew he’d be limited in what we did with him. He pushed himself early there and wasn’t able to run really well, so you saw us limit that in what we were doing.”
Leavitt was sharp from the start. He was 4 of 4 for 37 yards on LSU’s opening drive that wound up with a 10-yard touchdown to Eugene Wilson.
The Tigers (5-2, 2-2 in SEC) increased their margin to 14-0 with a 10-play, 85-yard drive which Leavitt capped with a 27-yard pass to Jackson Harris that was a better example of determination rather a player making an athletic play.
Leavitt completed 8 of 9 passes for 81 yards, converting a fourth-and-two with a 4-yard completion to Harris to State’s 29.
The combination worked three plays later when Leavitt found Harris, who made the catch and broke a tackle at the 20. He made a move toward the inside and was met by five defenders once he approached the 5-yard line.
Harris’ resolve kept him on his feet and moving toward the goal line when he crossed the plane.
Video review upheld the touchdown call.
Harris, a transfer from Hawaii, had six catches on six targets for a team-high 85 yards and two touchdowns before having to leave the game with an ankle injury. He was spotted in a walking boot following the game.
“He’s an incredible guy,” Leavitt said of Harris. “He’s high character individual. Comes to work every single day. He’ll come up to me and say we’ve got to go throw fade balls after practice. He takes initiative. Someone who always wants to get better and is looking to improve.”
The duo of Leavitt-to-Harris worked again midway through the second quarter for a 21-0 lead.
Leavitt waited for Harris to clear on a post toward the middle of the end zone which he hauled in for a 17-yard score.
Leavitt was 16-of-19 for 154 yards and three TDs at halftime.
“I saw how well I can sit in the pocket and just deliver balls, and make plays with arms rather than my legs,” Leavitt said the of the Texas A&M game, his first after his hamstring injury. “I’ve kind of built on that week after week. It’s a constant progression. You never arrive.”
LSU, which piled up 379 total yards, had a season’s best 16-play drive – the longest in terms of plays – that covered 74 yards and consumed more than eight minutes of the third-quarter clock – that Scott Starzyk culminated with a 26-yard field goal for a 24-0 lead at the 6:45 mark.
Leavitt spread his completions over nine different receivers with Malik Elzy benefitting from such balance to account for the final score.
He matched his season’s total of two catches with two receptions on the same drive for 20 yards, including a 6-yard score with 31 seconds showing before halftime.
“The mindset was more like (a) kill mentality,” Leavitt said. “We had a rough outing last weekend (35-34 overtime loss at Kentucky). “We had another opportunity in front of the fans in the nation to go put out a performance.
“Every single week we’ve just gotten better,” Leavitt said. “We keep playing cleaner ball, understanding how this offense works. Then once it starts and gets going, it’s pretty magical.”
