LSU players (from left) Ronnie Prude, Joseph Addai and Bennie Brazell share a postgame moment of prayer on a Louisiana emblem at ASU's Sun Devil Stadium. AP
	RELATED • LSU scores 28 in fourth quarter to stun ASU • LSU-Arizona State Box Score

By Kelli Anderson, SI.com

What We Learned

LSU: The Tigers could have used the tune-up game against North Texas that Hurricane Katrina denied them. The ragged first half featured lots of dropped passes, penalties and miscues and an epically long drive -- 19 plays and 80 yards in 11-plus minutes -- that produced nothing. But even without that rust-removing game, even without the home-field advantage that was supposed to be theirs, even with all the myriad distractions and sorrow the Tigers have endured in the last two weeks since the storm hit, they played like a top five team. (For that matter, so did No. 15 Arizona State.) After JaMarcus Russell's day -- 16 for 29 for 232 passing, including a 39-yard bomb to Early Doucet in the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown -- does anyone remember that one of the biggest question about this team going into this game was who would start at quarterback?

LSU's special teams, which were something of a liability last year, were spectacular Saturday night; in addition to blocking a field goal and a punt, both of which led to touchdowns, the Tigers brazenly faked a punt and passed on their own 10-yard line in their first possession, gaining 12 yards and a first down. As an added good sign, it doesn't appear that the absence of junior running back Alley Broussard, who injured a knee in mid-August and is out for the year, will hurt the Tigers too much. A committee of Joseph Addai, Shyrone Carey and Justin Vincent racked up 202 yards on 36 carries among them.

Arizona State: This could be the best team ASU has had since its 1996 Rose Bowl squad. Its passing game could be better than last year's, which was fifth in the nation, with 317.3 yards per game. Its running game (106 yards on 25 carries) is better than expected, though it is never going to do much more than keep opponents honest. The Sun Devils' untested defense, despite missing two of its top three linemen, wasn't bad either: it sacked Russell four times.

Player Who Impressed Me

ASU quarterback Sam Keller could be the next Andrew Walter, the rookie Oakland Raider who broke John Elway's Pac-10 record for career TD passes last year, among a long list of school records. In his third game as a starter, Keller had a career night, going 35-for-56 for 461 yards and four touchdowns. Unlike his stoic predecessor, he wears his emotion on his sleeve -- did you catch him bowing to the sidelines? He is great fun to watch.

Locker Room Confidential

Sophomore receiver Early Doucet had what coach Les Miles would call "an all-time bad" first-three quarters marked by a couple of dropped passes. But he made up for it by making what Miles called "one of the great catches in LSU history," the go-ahead TD catch with 1:13 to go. When Doucet saw Russell getting flushed out of the pocket, he ran to the left side of the end zone and and leaped above two defensive backs to catch the pass and just stay inbounds. "We practiced a lot on scramble drills this week in practice," Doucet explained. "We learned how to adjust our routes. It just happened that JaMarcus Russell and I were on the same page to make a big play to win."

The Big Picture

By winning despite a raft of unusual obstacles, LSU avoided the fate of so many other highly ranked teams and kept its BCS prospects sparkling. Arizona State would have been thrilled to keep the game this close had it been played in Baton Rouge, as originally planned. The Sun Devils may see this game as a lost opportunity, but they should be proud of going toe-to-toe against a well-balanced, emotionally charged team.