October 4, 2014
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 | | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | F | | (15) LSU Tigers (4-2, 0-2 SEC) | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | | (5) Auburn Tigers (5-0, 2-0 SEC) | 17 | 14 | 3 | 7 | 41 |
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| | Quick Stats | AU | LSU | | Total Plays | 74 | 60 | | 1st Downs | 25 | 13 | | 3rd down efficiency | 6-12 | 0-13 | | 4th down efficiency | 0-0 | 1-4 | | Total Yards | 566 | 280 | | Passing Yards | 268 | 142 | | Comp-Att | 17-25 | 8-24 | | Yards per pass | 15.8 | 17.8 | | Rushing Yards | 298 | 138 | | Rushing attempts | 49 | 36 | | Yards per rush | 6.1 | 3.8 | | Penalties-Yards | 7-80 | 5-31 | | Turnovers | 1 | 0 | | Fumbles lost | 1 | 0 | | Interceptions thrown | 0 | 0 | | Time of Possession | 32:31 | 27:29 |
| Stat Leaders | | Passing | C-Att | Yds | TD | Int | | AU - Marshall | 14-22 | 207 | 2 | 0 | | LSU - Harris | 3-14 | 58 | 0 | 0 | | Rushing | Car | Yds | TD | Long | | AU - Artis-Payne | 24 | 126 | 0 | 34 | | LSU - Fournette | 10 | 42 | 0 | 10 | | Receiving | Rec | Yds | TD | Long | | AU - Coates | 4 | 144 | 1 | 56 | | LSU - Dupre | 1 | 52 | 0 | 52 |
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By Charles Goldberg
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. -- In a world of upsets and missteps, fifth-ranked Auburn stood like a giant in the Top 5 Saturday in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Auburn turned in a thoroughly dominating performance, watched quarterback Nick Marshall put on a clinic in passing and running and dropped No. 15 LSU 41-7 before a capacity crowd of 87,451 in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
The outcome will surely move up Auburn in the polls, especially in a week in which No. 1 Alabama, No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 4 Oregon all lost.
Marshall accounted for four touchdowns in the first half and led the Tigers on seven scoring drives. Cameron Artis-Payne rushed for 126 yards and a touchdown. And Auburn's defense was impressive. LSU was 0-for-13 on third-down conversions, 1-for-4 on fourth-down conversions.
The win moves Auburn from one Top 25 game to a big Top 10/SEC West showdown in Starkville next weekend. No. 10 Mississippi State, like Auburn hours later, was impressive Saturday, beating No. 7 Texas A&M 48-31 in a Top 25 game of its own. Now, Auburn will head to Mississippi State as one of the top teams in the country.
"I've not heard one player or coach talk about being ranked," said Auburn coach Gus Malzahn. "Our whole deal is the end of the season. That's just the first game of the grind. It will all sort out at the end."
Auburn, which played for the national title last year, is trying to do it again as it tries to navigate through the tough SEC West. The Tigers have beaten Arkansas and LSU to start that run. Auburn improved to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the SEC. LSU fell to 4-2 overall and 0-2 in the league.
Auburn wasted exactly zero time setting the tone against LSU by scoring on its first four possessions and thoroughly confusing LSU freshman quarterback Brandon Harris.
"I'm very excited about our defense," Malzahn said. "They just played outstanding, holding those guys to seven points. On third down, they were good as I've seen -- just hats off to the defense. They just did a wonderful job.
"Offensively, we hit some passes early on that kind of loosened up everything. We were able to run the football.
"We talk about getting better, we talk about improving each week. There's no doubt we improved this week."
Auburn led 31-7 at the half, and that was a halftime deficit LSU coach Les Miles had not seen in his 10 years in Baton Rouge. Auburn had four touchdowns and a field goal in the first half.
Harris, making his first start, was just 1-of-8 passing as Auburn built that lead. LSU changed quarterbacks in the second half, but it didn't matter, not when LSU was 0-for-12 in third-down conversions.
How did Auburn, the team that led the nation in rushing last season, jump out to such a big lead? By passing. Auburn had 379 yards in the first half, with 220 of those coming from the arm of Marshall and Jeremy Johnson, who lined up at receiver, took a handoff from Marshall, and threw a 38-yard pass to Sammie Coates.
That was flashy. But Marshall brought his game throughout. He zipped through the first half hitting 12-of-16 passes for 182 yards and two touchdowns, and ran it 10 times for 81 yards and two more touchdowns. He finished hitting 14-of-22 passes for 207 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed 16 times for 119 yards and two more touchdowns.
"Nick played very well," Malzahn said. "He threw the ball well. He made some very good runs and decisions on the read-zone. Nick played like one of the better quarterbacks in the entire country."
And here's why: "He wins," Malzahn said.
Miles was impressed with Marshall. "He seems faster to me. He could get 7 to 10 yards in a pretty comfortable fashion. I went up to our defense and said, 'Hey guys, that guy is pretty fast,'" Miles said.
Auburn played it a lot faster in the first half when it mattered.
"We got some tempo going. Any time we get tempo going, that's when the big runs hit from time to time. There were a couple of ones that popped," he said.
Marshall led Auburn to its first score, coming on a career-best 46-yard field goal by Daniel Carlson, then threw a 54-yard touchdown pass to Coates for a 10-0 lead. Then, on the drive Johnson completed his pass, Marshall scored on a 7-yard run. Then he threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to C.J. Uzomah. Then he ran it in from 29 yards out for a 31-7 halftime advantage.
The closest LSU was able to get in the first half was 17-7 on a Kenny Hilliard 1-yard run late in the first quarter. Auburn shrugged it off with two second-quarter scores.
Auburn played out in the second half, scoring on a 42-yard Carlson field goal midway through the third quarter to make it 34-7. A 12-yard touchdown run by Corey Grant made it 41-7 with 8:44 remaining in the game.
