Auburn followed up its thrilling 18-13 win over LSU last week with a much more controlled, wire-to-wire 58-7 evisceration of Louisiana-Monroe. The Tigers set the pace from the get-go and didn't let up.
The offense left its red-zone woes behind, scoring touchdowns in four of five trips inside the 20, and the defense held ULM to a single score.
All in all, it was a comprehensive victory on Homecoming, and it caps Auburn's five-game homestand on a positive note. How did each position group do, though?
Coaching - A
Rhett Lashlee's second game calling plays this season went about as smoothly as you could ask for. The running game found a rhythm early, and Lashlee fed the hot hand until the starters began getting pulled. A big emphasis Gus Malzahn had harped on was the problems scoring touchdowns in the red zone, and those fears were eased Saturday. Although it was against a thoroughly overmatched ULM team, the coaches still put the offense in good situations to capitalize inside the 20.
Quarterbacks - A
For two weeks in a row now, Sean White has performed very well. His game against a stout LSU defense was impressive, and he built on that against ULM. White finished 14-17 for 239 yards and a pair of passing scores to go along with his first rushing touchdown. White's only incompletions all came on one drive, and other than that, he was calm, decisive and accurate through the air.
Midway through the third quarter and with Auburn leading 42-7, White's day was done and John Franklin III took over. It didn't take long to see why Malzahn refers to Franklin as "a shot in the arm," either. On his second play, Franklin pulled a read option and sprinted 80 yards right up the gut of the Warhawk defense and outran every defender near him. Then on the next possession, Franklin recorded his first passing touchdown, dropping a gorgeous 39-yard pass right into the arms of freshman Nate Craig-Myers in the end zone.
Running Backs - A
Auburn piled up 410 rushing yards, and that's with Kamryn Pettway sidelined with an injury and Kerryon Johnson only playing for three quarters. Johnson nearly had 100 yards by the time the first quarter ended, and eclipsed it less than a minute into the second quarter. He finished with 146 yards on 22 carries, a blistering 6.1 yards per carry.
Freshmen Kam Martin and Malik Miller got plenty of action as well. They each recorded 40+ yards in mop-up duty, and even walk-on Damian Lewis got some reps.
Wide Receivers - A
One of the biggest points that Malzahn kept repeating was that Auburn needed to open up the vertical passing game. Against earlier opponents, the majority of White's passes were quick, shorter routes, but the playbook got opened up against ULM. All three of Auburn's passing touchdowns were on deep balls, and two of them were essentially identical. Tony Stevens and Kyle Davis each hauled in a 49-yard touchdown off of a play-action pass, and Craig-Myers hauled in Franklin's 39-yard throw.
Stevens' 109 yards led the team, but there weren't a whole lot of gaudy stat lines for the receivers otherwise, given how committed Auburn was to running the football.
Offensive Line - A
The offensive line had what amounted to a reprieve after trying to hold off the likes of Kendell Beckwith and Arden Key a week ago against LSU, and they performed admirably. With Xavier Dampeer out nursing an injury, Austin Golson took his spot at center and Darius James replaced Golson at left tackle. The new-look line allowed one sack on what looked like a missed assignment, but other than that there wasn't much to complain about.
Defensive Line - A
Montavius Adams and Carl Lawson, the two anchors of Auburn's defensive line, combined for two sacks, three tackles for loss and two quarterback hurries. The line as a whole stuffed any Warhawk that tried to run up the middle, and flustered ULM quarterback Garrett Smith repeatedly.
Adams even blocked ULM's only field goal attempt after he bulldozed the interior of their offensive line and got a hand up.
Linebackers - A
Auburn's four leading tacklers were all linebackers. They fought off blocks, were quick to the ball and cleaned up anything that managed to get past the first level. Tre' Williams, back after his suspension for targeting in the LSU game, led the defense with nine tackles, and he forced a fumble right after Auburn's offense had turned it over to get the ball back.
Secondary - B+
Javaris Davis hauled in Auburn's second interception of the year, and the defensive backs generally made life rough for Smith. However, they did allow more deep passes than they probably would've liked, and busted coverages would've lended to more had a couple of Smith's passes actually been caught by ULM receivers.
The positives outweighed the negatives, though, and Auburn's secondary had a decent day overall.
Special Teams - A-
Kevin Phillips got to watch the entire game from the sidelines, because Auburn didn't punt a single time. ULM did though, and Marcus Davis got to really return a punt for the first time all year, and he picked up 25 yards on it.
The only real negative comes from the leg of Daniel Carlson, who missed his first field goal of the season. His 54-yard attempt was woefully short, and it looks like a ULM lineman might've gotten a hand on it at the line of scrimmage. It was bound to happen eventually, and you'd rather it happen in a blowout than when a conference game is on the line.
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