BATON ROUGE, La. – No. 9 Auburn, playing in its second top-10 matchup this month, held No. 2 LSU to a season-low 23 points Saturday, but the upset bid from the visiting Tigers came up short in a 23-20 loss on the road.
"I'm proud of our kids' effort," Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn. "They came in here against the No. 2 team in the country and fought their guts out until the very end. We have a bunch of winners in that locker room. They're not going to flinch moving forward. But we had opportunities, and we didn't seize the moment. Give LSU credit. They're a very good team."
Auburn was up to the challenge early, holding LSU to 47 total yards and no points in the first quarter. It was only the second quarter this season that LSU was held scoreless. Thanks to a 30-yard field goal from Anders Carlson, Auburn led 3-0 after the first quarter.
Following an LSU touchdown, Auburn answered with a touchdown of its own when quarterback Bo Nix took it in from a yard out on 4th-and-1 to give his team the lead back late in the first half. The drive started deep in LSU territory after Jeremiah Dinson forced a fumble on a punt return that was recovered by teammate Jamien Sherwood.
LSU tacked on a late field goal to tie the score, 10-10, going into the locker room at halftime.
Auburn jumped out early in the second half behind a 70-yard run from freshman D.J. Williams that led to another Carlson field goal to put the visitors back on top, 13-10. Williams recorded his first career 100-yard rushing performance with 130 yards on 13 carries.
"He's coming into his own," Malzahn said. "I think everybody saw that. That was really his first real rodeo as far as being the primary running back against a very good defense in a hostile environment, and I think he's got a chance to be a really good player."
It was the defense's turn after that as Auburn came up with two critical stops in the third quarter to keep LSU off the scoreboard.
First, the defense made a goal-line stand. Auburn stuffed three straight runs inside the 3-yard line, and on 4th-and-goal, Dinson and Noah Igbinoghene converged to make the tackle for no gain on a screen pass. Then, on the very next drive, sophomore cornerback Roger McCreary intercepted LSU quarterback Joe Burrow at the 1-yard line.
For McCreary, it was his first career interception at Auburn. It was only the fourth interception thrown by Burrow this season.
Burrow and the LSU offense responded, however, with a touchdown late in the third quarter and then another one early in the fourth to take a 23-13 lead.
But Auburn continued to fight and with less than three minutes to go, Nix connected with Seth Williams on a 5-yard touchdown pass to make it 23-20. The sophomore wide receiver led the team with four catches for 65 yards and the touchdown, and he also became the 28th player in Auburn history to go over 1,000 career receiving yards.
The ensuing onside kick was recovered by LSU, which all but sealed the outcome.
Defensively, five different Auburn players finished with 10 or more tackles – led by Dinson, who tied his career high with 15 tackles. Freshman linebacker Owen Pappoe also had a career high in tackles with seven and recorded 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack.
It was another outstanding performance from senior defensive lineman Derrick Brown, who finished with seven tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack.
After being on the road the entire month of October, Auburn (6-2, 3-2) will return home for four straight home games in November, beginning with Ole Miss next Saturday. The game is scheduled to kickoff at 6 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPN.
"We've got four games left against some really good teams, and there's a lot to play for," Malzahn said. "Our guys will stick together. They're true Auburn men. And we'll finish this thing the right way."
GAME NOTES
- Captains: Derrick Brown, Marlon Davidson, Jeremiah Dinson, Daniel Thomas
- Coin Toss: LSU wins the toss and defers. Auburn will receive
- Attendance: 102,160
TEAM NOTES
- First-time starters for Auburn: Roger McCreary, Jamien Sherwood
- Auburn has scored in 88 consecutive games, the second-longest streak in school history
- Auburn scored first for the fourth game this season
- The Auburn defense has allowed only four first-quarter touchdowns this season, none today
- Auburn has held the opponent scoreless in 12 quarters this season, including the first quarter today; it was only the second quarter this season LSU was held scoreless
- Auburn held LSU to only 47 total yards in the first quarter, the second lowest total for the Auburn defense in the first quarter this year (Arkansas had 35)
INDIVIDUAL NOTES/OFFENSE
- Sophomore Seth Williams is the 28th player In Auburn history with more than 1,000 career receiving yards; he now has 1,057 career yards on 55 receptions
- Bo Nix scores his fourth rushing touchdown of the season
- Nix' TD pass to Seth Williams was Nix' 12th touchdown pass of the season. It was Williams' eighth touchdown catch of the season and 13th of his career
- D.J. Williams' 70-yard rush was a career long; the freshman records his first 100-yard rushing performance with today's 130-yard rushing total
- Kam Martin now has 1,491 career rushing yards, making him 31st on the Auburn career rushing list
- JaTarvious Whitlow now has 1,340 career rushing yards, making him 38th on the Auburn career rushing list
INDIVIDUAL NOTES/DEFENSE
- Javaris Davis (10), Jamien Sherwood (10), Roger McCreary (10) and Owen Pappoe (7) each recorded career highs in tackles; Jeremiah Dinson (15) tied his career high
- Jeremiah Dinson's forced fumble was the second of his career; Jamien Sherwood records his first career fumble recovery
- Roger McCreary records his first career interception
- Jeremiah Dinson and Daniel Thomas each recorded his third career game with double-figure tackles
INDIVIDUAL NOTES/SPECIAL TEAMS
- Anders Carlson's two field goals today make him 10-12 on field goal attempts this season; this is the eighth game of his career where Carlson has made multiple field goals in a game
- Shaun Shivers' 27-yard kickoff return was a career long
- Noah Igbinoghene's 32-yard kickoff return was his longest of the season
- Arryn Siposs' 55-yard punt was a season long; his 10 punts today were the most he's had in a game