Prior to Auburn’s matchup against LSU Saturday night, LSU was ranked 121st in total defense, 121st in pass defense and 109th in points allowed per game. LSU was fresh off allowing Ole Miss to score 55 points and record over 700 total yards two weeks ago and Missouri to score 39 points and throw for 411 yards last week.
However, in Death Valley, Auburn managed to record just 293 total yards, 154 yards passing and scored 18 points as Auburn fell to LSU 48-18. With the loss, Auburn fell to 3-3 on the season and a winless 0-3 in the SEC. It's Auburn's first 0-3 start in conference play since 2012.
“Obviously, a difficult night for us,” said head coach Hugh Freeze. “They beat us every way that you could. We had no answers defensively for them, and offensively, just not consistent enough to stay in a scoring match with them. And we got to own everything that’s on that film: the effort, the good and the bad and go back to work and hopefully get better.”
The 48 points allowed by Auburn is the most Auburn has allowed against LSU in the series' history.
Despite entering the game ranked 19th in the country in rushing yards per game (202 YPG), Auburn also failed to get its rushing game going. The Tigers rushed for just 139 yards on 34 carries. Starting running back Jarquez Hunter scored Auburn’s first touchdown of the game, but only amassed 16 yards on the ground.
Jeremiah Cobb led Auburn in yards rushing with 69. Auburn’s game against LSU marked the third consecutive game where an Auburn player has failed to rush for 100 yards or more as the only Tiger to eclipse 100 yards rushing or more in a game was quarterback Payton Thorne against Samford (123 yards).
Auburn fell into a hole early as LSU scored on its first three drives while Auburn went three-and-out on its first two — creating a 17-0 LSU lead to open the game. A false start on Auburn's first play was followed a few plays later by a bad snap from center Avery Jones, giving Auburn a nightmare start to the game.
“That’s not what we needed,” Freeze said. “It’s funny. I mean, I don’t know. It didn’t happen the rest of the game, and so I don’t know what Avery was hearing. Both of them we didn’t clap. We didn’t get the cadence, and that was certainly not a good way to start.”
Auburn linebacker Eugene Asante, who tied a career-high 12 tackles, said the defense also came out slow.
“I think, truly, we started out very slow,” Asante said. “I think it’s on a lot of people to just bring the defense out. We need to be more juiced and ready to play the game and more excited to play the game. This is a big game, and we want to perform at the highest level.”
Auburn responded with a 75-yard drive led by a few RPOs from Thorne which was capped by a rushing touchdown from Hunter out of the wildcat formation.
Following the Auburn touchdown, Auburn’s defense had its best stretch of play by allowing just three points over the next three LSU drives and recording an interception from D.J. James off LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels.
However, Auburn’s offense failed to cut into the lead, as it punted three times in the first half after scoring. On Auburn’s last drive of the first half, Freeze turned to Ashford at quarterback who moved Auburn’s offense to the 49-yard line with just under one minute left.
Thorne was brought back in at quarterback and fired two straight incompletions and was sacked on third down to end the drive and keep Auburn from potentially adding more points before the half.
Auburn scored a field goal from Alex McPherson on its first drive of the second half and added a touchdown pass from Ashford to tight end Brandon Frazier early in the fourth quarter, but it was not near enough as LSU scored a touchdown on all four of its drives in the second half.
LSU accounted for 563 total yards, outperformed Auburn in first downs 25-18 and averaged 8.5 yards per play.
Daniels, who Freeze called a Heisman candidate earlier in the week, threw for 325 yards and three touchdowns while adding another 93 yards on the ground.
“I didn’t think we fought as hard, but that’s something I’ve got to own,” Freeze said. “It’s my job to get them to play hard, and maybe I’ll watch the film and think differently.”
As for Auburn, Thorne led the Tigers in passing with 102 yards on 12-of-23 completion while Ashford recorded 52 yards passing and one touchdown. Frazier led the Tigers in yards receiving (52) and caught his first career touchdown pass at Auburn.
Auburn now returns back to the Plains for a home matchup against Freeze’s former team, the Ole Miss Rebels, on Oct. 21. The game will kick off at 6 p.m. CST and be televised on ESPN.
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Jacob Waters is a senior majoring in journalism. From Leeds, Alabama, he started with The Plainsman in August, 2021.
Twitter: @JacobWaters_
