Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
NO. 5 AUBURN 41, NO. 15 LSU 7
Nick Marshall passed for 207 yards, ran for 119 and accounted for 4 touchdowns to lead No. 5 Auburn to a blowout of No. 15 LSU in Auburn, Ala. Auburn dominated from the start, on a week when No. 2 Oregon, No. 3 Alabama and No. 4 Oklahoma were upset. The 41 points equaled Auburn’s highest total in the rivalry set in the 1999 game.
AUBURN, Ala. — Nick Marshall and the Auburn Tigers rose to the occasion on a week when most of the teams ranked ahead of them fell.
Marshall passed for 207 yards and 2 touchdowns and ran for 119 and 2 more scores to lead No. 5 Auburn to a 41-7 blowout of No. 15 LSU on Saturday night.
Auburn (5-0, 2-0) dominated from the start on a week when No. 2 Oregon, No. 3 Alabama and No. 4 Oklahoma were upset. The 41 points equaled Auburn’s highest total in the rivalry — set with the same margin in the 1999 game.
“Nick played like one of the better quarterbacks in the entire country,” Auburn Coach Gus Malzahn said.
And Auburn played like one of the better teams.
LSU ( 4- 2, 0- 2), which turned to freshman quarterback Brandon Harris, has dropped its first two SEC games for the first time in Coach Les Miles’ decade-long tenure.
Harris completed 3 of 14 passes for 58 yards before getting replaced late in the third quarter by former starter Anthony Jennings.
With Marshall playing again like the Heisman Trophy candidate many expected him to be, Auburn sould rise to the No. 2 spot it held after last season.
He completed 14 of 22 passes, had 16 carries and supplied a steady diet of big plays. Marshall threw touchdown passes of 56 yards to Sammie Coates and 9 yards to tight end C.J. Uzomah, and scored on runs of 7 and 29 yards.
Cameron Artis-Payne ran 24 times for 126 yards and gained 35 yards on three catches. Coates had his first big game of the season with 144 yards on four catches after coming in with 56 receiving yards.
He matched that with the long grab away from cornerback Rashard Robinson, who had good coverage.
“He made an unbelievable catch,” Malzahn said, adding that it “kind of got us going.”
Auburn outgained LSU 566-280, the most yards it has produced in the series. LSU had won the past three meetings but couldn’t muster much fight in this one and is likely already out of the hotly contested SEC West race.
“This felt different. Everything felt different,” Malzahn said. “Our players, our coaches, myself. It was just a big game.”
LSU Coach Les Miles sent in the former starter Jennings to replace Harris late in the third quarter, but the results didn’t change dramatically. Neither quarterback managed to convert any of their combined 13 third-down attempts.
Harris had led LSU to touchdowns on nine of his previous 10 drives but a 52-yarder to fellow freshman Malachi Dupre and a 36-yard run were his only real highlights in his first game before a hostile crowd.
The long pass set up Kenny Hilliard’s 1-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter in a freshman-sparked drive with the Harris- to- Dupre strike and the runs of Leonard Fournette.
Jennings was 5-of-10 passing for 84 yards after struggling against New Mexico State a week ago. Miles said he hadn’t made a decision on his starter at Florida.
“We kept putting the defense on the field,” he said. “We tackled, we played hard, but offensively we did not execute. We are a work in progress. Certainly a group of men that are committed to fixing things. But frankly we did not get it done.”
Jennings came in with LSU down 34-7 after Marshall lost a fumble at his own 35. The result was more of the same: four plays, no first down.
Fournette gained 42 yards on 10 carries. Leading receiver Travin Dural had one catch for 40 yards. The tone was set early. Marshall led scoring drives on each of Auburn’s first four possessions, while LSU failed to get a first down on five of its opening six.
Auburn raced to a 31-7 halftime lead, the most the program had ever scored in a half against LSU. The 247 first-quarter yards was also the high mark in any quarter under Malzhan.
“We came out fast, we came out hard and kind of asserted ourselves early in the game and kind of had them on their heels the whole time,” Uzomah said. “I feel like that’s a testament to where we are as a team.”
Auburn linebackers Kris Frost and Cassanova McKinzy didn’t start but played much of the game after getting injured against Louisiana Tech after being limited in practice all week. Right tackle Patrick Miller didn’t play.
The fans at Jordan-Hare Stadium got a cheer minutes into the game when the celebratory scene of No. 11 Mississippi’s victory over Alabama was shown on the scoreboard.
Auburn’s team gave them plenty more reasons to applaud.