Auburn's rushing attack was on full display Saturday, Sept. 7 against Arkansas State. The Tigers racked up over 300 yards on the ground and on their way to a 38-9 rout of the Red Wolves.
"It feels good to be 2 and 0," head coach Gus Malzahn said. "We beat a good football team and we talked about needing to be able to run the football to be successful against these guys. I felt like we were able to do that."
The Tigers started the game quickly, with Marshall finding Trovon Reed on a screen play that gained 17 yards.
Marshall then connected with freshman Marcus Davis for his first touchdown pass as an Auburn quarterback. It was Davis's first reception as a Tiger.
Arkansas State's first drive covered 58 yards on 14 plays, but the Red Wolves settled for a 34 yard Brian Davis field goal after pressure from Montravius Adams and Craig Sanders forced an incompletion on 3rd down.
Marshall was featured heavily on the Tigers' second drive as he accounted for 63 yards passing and rushing. A 17 yard jet sweep from Corey Grant put the Tigers ahead 14-3.
The Tiger defense struggled to get off the field early against the Red Wolves' quick passing game, but two fourth-down stops prevented the Red Wolves from scoring any points.
"We had our main edge set on stopping the run and not letting them come into Jordan-Hare and run the ball on us," sophomore linebacker Cassanova Mckinzy said. "We had our nicks, but that's what practice is for and we're going to come back tomorrow and fix all of that."
A 68 yard touchdown pass from Marshall to Sammie Coates broke the game open late in the second quarter, and Auburn took a 21-3 lead into the half.
"The big pass play was huge," Malzahn said. "That kinda gave us a sigh of relief right there. We could really open up our play."
Arkansas State's offense came out of half-time clicking on all cylinders, but after moving the ball deep into Auburn territory, Kris Frost hit ASU's David Oku for a loss on consecutive plays to force a field goal. Davis's 21 yard attempt was good, and with 9:58 left in the third quarter, Auburn led 21-6.
Marshall fumbled on the very next possession and gave the ball to the Red Wolves at Auburn's 17-yard line. Again, the defense held its ground and ASU tacked on another field goal to cut Auburn's lead to 21-9.
"That's two weeks in a row our defense stood up down there and held them to field goals," Malzahn said. "We had a fourth down stop again and that is definitely a good thing."
After trading punts with Arkansas State, a series of impressive runs by Tre Mason and Cam Artis-Payne led the Auburn offense into the red zone. Mason capped the drive with an 11 yard touchdown run to stretch the lead to 28-9.
"We try to wear everybody down late in the game and throw fresh legs at them," junior running back Tre Mason said. "We're looking forward to winning next week and, like I said, winning is contagious."
On their next possession, Auburn relied on their ground attack again to put place kicker Cody Parkey in position to extend their lead to 31-9 with 8:46 left in the game.
The Tigers' defense then forced a turnover on downs and a fumble on consecutive possessions to close the door on any come-back effort from the Red Wolves. Artis-Payne strolled untouched into the endzone with 1:43 left in the game to ensure victory for the Tigers, 38-9.
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