BATON ROUGE – DJ Pickett and the LSU defense forced turnovers and made key stops all night to give the Tigers a win over Western Kentucky, 13-10, on Saturday night in the final home game of the 2025 season.
With the win, LSU improves to 7-4 overall. The Tigers return to action next Saturday in the regular season finale at Oklahoma for an 2:30 p.m. CT kick on ABC.
Game Recap
LSU won the coin toss and elected to defer to the second half.
Western Kentucky quarterback Rodney Tisdale was able to move the ball quickly down the field on the opening possession, completing passes of 18 and 16 yards to move the ball into field goal range. John Cannon converted on a 36-yard attempt to give the Hilltoppers an early 3-0 lead with 11:43 to play in the first quarter, capping a drive the went 57 yards on nine plays.
With the Tigers driving to open the second quarter, Van Buren’s pass, intended for Zavion Thomas, was intercepted by WKU corner Harper Holloman at midfield. The Hilltoppers took over at the LSU 50 as the Tigers remained scoreless 14:47 into the second quarter.
Tisdale and WKU would yet again find success on offense and move the ball swiftly down the field. However, inside LSU territory, the Hilltoppers were stopped, but still elected to go for it. On 4th-and-4 from the 4, Tisdale’s pass was incomplete in the back of the end zone to force a turnover on downs. LSU took over at the 4.
The Tiger defense was able to halt another WKU drive with 3:09 to play in the first half as Tisdale’s pass to Marvis Parrish was caught and brought behind the line to gain for a turnover on downs at the LSU 38. Ja’Keem Jackson made the stop.
Van Buren and the LSU offense were finally able to get into the end zone after an eight play drive spanning 62 plays culminated in a 11-yard touchdown pass from MVB to Trey’Dez Green to give the Tigers a 7-6 lead with 1:32 to play in the half. Four passes were thrown to Green on the drive.
Freshman corner DJ Pickett started the second half fast. On 2nd-and-10 from the WKU 11, Tisdale’s pass was picked off by Pickett and returned three yards to the 22. Pickett sacked Tisdale from the blindside on the previous possession. The Tigers extended their lead to 10-3 after Damian Ramos kicked a 18-yard attempt after LSU was unable to punch the ball into the end zone from the 1.
The secondary continued to make plays as corner sophomore PJ Woodland intercepted Tisdale on 1st-and-10 from the LSU 47 with 4:43 to play in the third quarter.
Another 29-yard field goal from Ramos extended the Tigers’ lead to 13-3 with 11:15 to play in the contest, capping off a 10-play drive that went for 40 yards and took just under five minutes off the clock.
With 1:05 to play in the game, freshman running back Harlem Berry fumbled, which was recovered by WKU’s Jordan Donald and returned for a 71-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 13-10. The game would end with LSU victorious, 13-10.
