BATON ROUGE, La. – No. 8 Louisiana State jumped out to a 17-0 lead midway through the first quarter and never looked back, rolling Arizona 45-3 in front of 92,221 fans at Tiger Stadium Saturday.

JaMarcus Russell had 196 yards and two touchdowns on 13-of-20 passing in leading LSU (2-0) to its ninth-straight win over a Pacific 10 Conference team, but it was Arizona’s own passing game – or lack thereof it – that killed the Wildcats (1-1).

“”Playing a team like LSU, they can expose some weaknesses, and obviously they exposed some in this game,”” UA head coach Mike Stoops said. “”We just didn’t handle things very well.””

Quarterback Willie Tuitama finished the game 8-of-17 with two interceptions and just 50 yards, and was replaced with redshirt senior Adam Austin in the third quarter after sustaining a possible concussion.

Tuitama, who absorbed two helmet-to-helmet hits on the game’s first drive – one of which was flagged for a personal foul – looked out of his element throughout the night, overthrowing receivers and failing to recognize blitzes.

“”It looked like he might have had a concussion,”” Stoops said. “”He just wasn’t in sync. …A team like LSU can really get after the quarterback.””

Austin finished 8-of-19 with 67 yards and a pick.

For Arizona, when things went bad in the first half, they got worse. LSU scored three times within a three-minute span in the opening quarter, crushing any hope for a Wildcat upset.

“”We stepped up a class to the heavyweight division tonight, and, obviously, just didn’t handle it,”” Stoops said. “”We just weren’t ready for this.””

Even when Arizona appeared to slow the Tigers, LSU wound up in the end zone.

On third-and-two from the Arizona 17, LSU running back Alley Broussard burst through the Arizona defensive line and made safety Dominic Patrick miss en route to a 24-0 lead.

LSU started the route early. With Arizona facing a 3rd-and-six from their own 37, Tiger cornerback Jonathan Zenon picked off Tuitama’s pass and returned it 41 yards for a score and a 10-0 lead just 1:33 after Colt David’s 21-yard field goal opened the scoring.

Things got worse on the ensuing kickoff when receiver B.J. Dennard’s fumble was recovered by LSU’s Jacob Cutrera. Russell hit fullback Jacob Hester three plays later on a 5-yard route for a 17-0 lead.

The Arizona offense didn’t even cross midfield until the 5:40 mark of the second quarter, but even that drive stalled after a total of three UA-recovered fumbles killed what little momentum they had built, forcing yet another Nick Folk punt, one of his six on the day.

In the second half, LSU kept the rout going midway through the third quarter when Jacob Hester went 28 yards untouched into the end zone.

Russell found Bowe two minutes later for his second touchdown of the night, and Charles Scott added a 38-yard dash in the fourth to cap the Tiger scoring.

LSU’s defense extended its streak of not giving up a touchdown to 14 quarters.

Only a 22-yard Folk field goal saved Arizona from its first shutout since last year’s 28-0 loss at California.