BATON ROUGE, La. • Kenny Hilliard rushed for 141 yards and two touchdowns to help No. 3 LSU open its season with a 41-14 victory over North Texas on Saturday night.
While the heavily favored Tigers never were threatened, their performance did not always thrill a Death Valley crowd that eagerly anticipated the debut of Zach Mettenberger as starting quarterback.
Mettenberger, who briefly was sidelined by a vicious sack, was 19 of 26 for 192 yards, an interception and a touchdown. But LSU didn't really need to throw in a game decided by its overwhelming defense and a running game that accounted for 316 yards, including 123 yards by Alfred Blue.
North Texas quarterback Derek Thompson completed only 8 of 21 passes, but two passes were scoring strikes of 80 and 15 yards to Brelan Chancellor.