BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – Josh Booty, LSU’s on-again, off-again quarterback, was on again Saturday night, throwing three touchdown passes as LSU beat Kentucky 34-0.
LSU (4-3, 2-2) also slowed down the high-powered Kentucky offense, ranked second in the Southeastern Conference and seventh nationally in passing.
Booty, who had thrown 10 interceptions this season, including one that set up a winning field goal for Alabama-Birmingham, and 29 in two seasons _ the most for any Division I-A player, completed 15 of 33 passes for 225 and no interceptions.
Benched after the UAB loss, Booty replaced the injured Rohan Davey in the second half of last week’s game against Florida and started against Kentucky.
On the first possession of the game Booty drove LSU 74 yards, hitting Josh Reed with a 7-yard touchdown pass that made it 7-0.
But after the initial charge down field, the Tigers failed to find the end zone again in the first half and gained only another 71 yards in total offense before the break.
Kentucky’s first possession produced no points as Seth Hanson’s 46-yard field-goal attempt sailed wide right.
The Wildcats set up LSU’s second first-quarter score when Kendrick Shanklin fumbled a punt on Kentucky’s 30 and the Tigers recovered. Six plays later, John Corbello hit a 38-yard field goal to make it 10-0.
Corbello missed a 43-yard attempt with 2.6 seconds left in the half, and made a 31-yarder in the fourth quarter.
On the first possession of the second half, Artose Pinner fumbled after LSU safety Damien James hit him. Tigers linebacker Trev Faulk recovered on the LSU 47. Devery Henderson then capped a six-play drive with an 8-yard touchdown run that made it 17-0.
With 5:29 left in the third quarter, Derek Abney fumbled a punt on the Kentucky 11, and LSU fullback Tommy Banks recovered it, setting up a 13-yard touchdown pass from Booty to Reggie Robinson.
LSU’s final score was a 25-yard touchdown pass from Booty to Eric Edwards.
Lorenzen completed 31 of 55 passes for 280 yards. He had one interception and was sacked once.
