LSU, Fournette run roughshod over Auburn, 45-21

LSU is fortunate to have Fournette.

The sophomore tailback amassed 228 yards rushing and three touchdowns in three quarters of work. He carried the rock only 19 times as the Bayou Bengals walloped the Auburn Tigers, 45-21 in Baton Rouge.

Before the game, the talk was all about Auburn’s quarterback Jeremy Johnson, who waited on the bench for two years before laying an egg against LSU.

Auburn's Rudy Ford said before that game that tackling Fournette wouldn't be "that difficult," but boy was he wrong. Also, unbeknownst to him, he had just supplied locker room fodder for Les Miles, who pasted Ford's quote on Fournette's locker before the game.

LSU defensive line coach Ed Orgeron, quoted in CampRush, said it best: “That was the most dominant performance of any college player I’ve seen in my 30 years coaching,” Orgeron says. “It was unbelievable.”

After the game, all anyone could talk about was Fournette and how he steamrolled Auburn’s defenders, breaking 11 tackles and created an ESPN highlight reel.

5 reasons why LSU beat Auburn, 35-17

OK, there has been much pontification about LSU's shellacking of Auburn Saturday night in Baton Rouge, but here 5 reasons why it went down:

THE RAIN: LSU jumped out to a 21-0 lead. Common sense says you don't need to put the ball in the air on a night where inclement weather is a factor. When you're behind the weather plays a huge role in what you can do, thus Auburn had to abandon much of their gameplan (mind you, they still had a 100-yard back), but the weather helped LSU tremendously because they scored early.

JEREMY HILL: Le'ts get the elepant out of the room and into the end zone. Hill, who finished with 184 yards on 25 carries,single-handedly won the game, actually in the first half. Auburn simply had no answer, until they put 10 in the box. Les Miles very much tried to get him 200 yards, but the ram-him-up-the-middle scheme can only work for so long.

THE CROWD: Again, the bad weather forecast turned many Auburn fans away from the game and made others leave early. LSU had a decided advantage, as it should, playing in Tiger Stadium that night.

AUBURN'S INEPT OFFENSE: Quarterback Nick Marshall went 6 of 16 and had two turnovers in the first half, dooming any fast start the Tigers had -- and they had a good one the very first time they touched the ball, driving into LSU territory before fumbling.

LSU's BIG PLAYS: Auburn made a game of it in the second half, and truth be told, should have been down by one touchdown with 10 minutes in the game -- Tre Mason had come to life by that time, rumbling past LSU defenders for huge chunks of yards on the way to a 132-yard night. But everytime Auburn scored, LSU's receivers made a big play of their own, keeping the Bayou Bengals ahead by more than  a score most of the night.

LSU's 24-21 win against Bama one for the ages

When Jordan Jefferson and Jarrett Lee aren't confused, they're pretty good.
Case in point, Jefferson's 75-yard slant to receiver Rueben Randle.
Another case in point: Lee's 47-yard lob to Randle on a 3rd down play late in the game.
Maybe the Tigers should call a timeout before every play, then they'd have confident quarterbacks under center.
Whatever you call it, LSU's 24-21 win against the defending national champs Alabama Crimson Tide was a major statement and huge win.
It meant that the Nebuchadnezzar-like (grass-eating) Les Miles doesn't have to take a back seat to any coach in the SEC.
It meant that Nick Saban can be outcoached.
It meant that LSU should be a top 5 team, schedule-wise.
But all that is for another day.
Now, LSU sits just a game behind undefeated Auburn Tigers, who need to lose to Georgia next week then Alabama for LSU to get a shot.

IT'S AUBURN WEEK: Can the Bayou Bengals Corral Cam Newton?

For Bayou Bengals fans, no other LSU game incites the raw emotion that Auburn week does.

I mean, it's tiger vs. tiger for goodness sakes. Auburn is one of those rivalries where you really do hope the other team does well when they don't play each other. LSU fans never want to play a weak or sad Auburn team, and I'm sure real Auburn fans feel the same way about LSU.

This year both come into the contest undefeated with Auburn coming off a 63-point outburst. Luckily their defense can give up as many.

Auburn's coach sees it another way.

"Defensively, I keep using the word resilient," Tigers coach Gene Chizik said in a recent interview. "Here's what I like about our defense: They keep fighting. They're into the game.

When these two squads are at their best and loaded with talent, there is nary a college football game in the land that can boast two fine war machines so often in the middle of the season.

The memorable finishes have been plenty, and this year promises to be just as good.

Of late LSU, or should I say Les Miles, has owned Auburn winning 4 out of 5 matchups. The one he lost? A 7-3 debacle ruined by bad officiating, but I digress.

For the record, Cam Newton looks even scarier than Tim Tebow did three years ago. Of course, we won that one.

Did LSU explode against Auburn, 31-10? No way

Saturday night's LSU-Auburn game brought the Tigernation to its feet -- those in purple rose in elation; those in orange and navy got up to leave.
LSU's 31-3,10 win,(okay, you know that last Auburn TD was bogus) was, to some, a long awaited eruption of offensive might, a groundswell of pent-up demand.
Going away, LSU scored 31 points.
They have yet to score more than 32 in a game this season.
What explosion?
Sure, Jordan Jefferson got loose. The super soph finally threw to his elite receivers. As a result Jefferson got most of the praise, accounting for over 310 yards (242 yards through the air on 21 of 31 passes and two touchdowns, no picks) deservedly so, but it was Russell Shepard that stole the spotlight. Shepard's 69-yard run ignited the crowd and left no doubts on who would win the game.
But honestly speaking, LSU's offense bogged down for short periods Saturday. If Auburn would have gotten any semblance of an offensive flow, then I think LSU would have been exposed as usual.
LSU needs to show consistency if they want to be considered an elite program this year. As a team though, they are coming together nicely.
Enough can't be said about LSU's defense. They are really starting to look scary, 2 weeks after holding Florida to 13 points.
Auburn only gained 193 yards total offense, and truthfully they had about 120 until their second-string quarterback (who should be starting, btw) came in and just started flinging it.
Auburn coach Gene Chizik reaffirmed his support for senior signal caller Chris Todd this week as the Tigers get set to play a stout Ole Miss team.
“Yeah, he’s the quarterback, but when it’s third-and-7 and he’s got five guys in his lap, that’s not [on] Chris Todd,” Chizik said.
So, is it on you, Chizik? Huh? Huh? Huh?
LSU has a cakewalk up next, but then prepares to face Alabama, No. 1 in some polls.
The question, then is can the Tigers run the table?

5 Reasons Why Auburn Fired Franklin

Say what you want about Tommy Tuberville and those Auburn Tigers, but complacent they aren't. How to explain the sudden firing of offensive coordinator Tony Franklin after only 6 games? There's gotta be a reason, right? Here's 5 reasons why Tubby had to do it:

THE NEW 2-LOSS STANDARD: After LSU's helter skelter championship run last season with 2 losses, it's no longer an excuse not to keep BCS goals in order. Doing the math, Auburn is still in the race, of course they need crazy help. But to close ranks and circle the wagons with 2 losses is a way of saying, "War Eagle!" If Tubby didn't act now, especially after that close win over Mississippi State, the Arkansas game would have been needlessly suspenseful (Quote me: It won't be now.)

THE CHRIS TODD FACTOR: Let's be honest, here. Aside from Tebow the SEC is not a quarterback factory. The guys that line up behind center here on a little more than middle-manager punching bags. They're not supposed to win games, just manage them. In the spread, Todd can do neither. What bites is that Todd knows the spread offense, he ran it in high school (Franklin was the offensive consultant at Todd's high school). The spread offense is not for game managers, but for real efficient, aggressive, mobile quarterbacks, in other words, those not at Auburn.

THE VANDY LOSS: Contrary to popular belief, Tuberville, while not okay with losing to them, had actually nursed his wounds after the LSU game. A loss to a top 10 program can actually help your cause late in the season when rankings get a big muddled. But the Vanderbilt loss? After being up 14-0 in the first quarter? Tuberville knows full well that he recruited better athletes than Vandy did. He knew full well that in a smashmouth, slugfest his team would win, perhaps easily. The spread offense made him a liar. Auburn's first 2 possessions they lined up like a normal offense and crisply, quickly scored two touchdowns. They went to the spread after that 2nd possession. They didn't score a single point after.

THE TIDE IS RISING Ask any Auburn fan what game is a must-win in any season and it's the Iron Bowl. Losing 3 to 4 games this season is not an option, not with a potent Alabama at the other end of the state (Auburn still must play Georgia and at West Virginia). Tuberville in the last 5 years has endured an unrewarded perfect season, a failed coup at the university and a bunch of bad calls, but one thing he can hang his hat on is his 5-year dominance of the Tide. Threaten that and the claws pretty much come out.

THE FREE KODI MOVEMENT: Quarterbacks Kodi Burns and Chris Todd have alternated during games and are still battling for the starting job. Despite Burns being way more mobile and versatile in the offense, his playing time has diminished in recent weeks. Tuberville likes Burns and looks to Florida, LSU and South Carolina (well maybe not the Gamecocks so much) as running effective dual-quarterback systems. Auburn never could master it. Tubby wondered why.