Auburn Rolls on Homecoming, 73-7
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November 1, 2003
AUBURN (AP) - Carnell Williams and Brandon Jacobs each ran for two touchdowns and Auburn set up three more with blocked punts in a 73-7 win over Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday.
The Tigers (6-3) led 45-0 at halftime and the backups kept piling it on in the kind of dominant performance the team was looking for coming off a 31-7 loss at LSU.
Louisiana-Monroe (1-8) fell to 2-22-1 against Southeastern Conference teams and served as a tuneup for Auburn's critical league stretch.
The Tigers face No. 20 Mississippi and visit No. 4 Georgia in the next two weeks, games vital to their SEC title hopes.
It was the most points scored by Auburn since a 76-10 win over Tennessee-Chattanooga in 1995 and was the second highest total since 1932. By the time it was over, all but a few thousand of the 81,000 fans remained.
The Tigers needed just nine offensive plays to score their first three touchdowns, gaining 258 yards in the first quarter. That was 65 more than they had in the LSU game.
It only got uglier after that. Kevin Hobbs returned an interception 20 yards for a touchdown and Justin Fetsko blocked a punt and recovered it in the end zone.
Donnay Young blocked Joel Stelly's next punt, too, setting up Campbell's 1-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Wallace midway through the second quarter.
Fetsko blocked another punt in the third.
Williams finished with 113 yards on seven carries, all in the first half. He bounced off three defenders downfield then raced for a 72-yard touchdown and added a 1-yarder in the first quarter.
Jacobs ran for scores of 20 and 3 yards.
Campbell was 11-of-13 passing for 180 yards with two touchdowns and an interception in the first half, with thousands of fans hitting the exits at halftime. He completed his first 10 passes and threw a 32-yard touchdown to Jeris McIntyre.
Backups Josh Sullivan and Wesley Hill played the second half, with Hill taking a knee to end it after the Tigers made it inside the Indians 10 again.
Auburn outgained the Indians 481-151 in total yards.
Louisiana-Monroe played without quarterback Steven Jyles, who was attending his grandmother's funeral.
Backup Daniel DaPrato started but Floyd Smith, normally a wide receiver, played most of the game and hit Mack Vincent for an 18-yard scoring pass in the third quarter.
He was 7-of-20 for 98 yards and was intercepted three times. Kevin Payne had just 25 yards on 17 carries.