AUBURN, Ala. – Byrum Brown’s touchdown run sparked Auburn in the first half but No. 18 LSU’s explosive offense carried the Bengal Tigers to a 38-17 victory Saturday at sold-out Jordan-Hare Stadium.
“We didn’t effectively move the ball offensively, seven of 11 drives for four plays or less,” Auburn coach Alex Golesh said. “Defensively, we were going to have to create some turnovers and tackle extremely well, and we didn’t do either of those things. That was not what you would want Auburn football to be by any means.”
LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt accounted for four touchdowns to lead the Bengal Tigers to a 31-10 halftime lead. He finished with 387 passing yards and three touchdowns while adding 54 rushing yards and a score.
LSU forced a three-and-out on Auburn’s opening possession then capitalized on advantageous field position to take a 3-0 lead on Scott Starzyk’s 30-yard field goal.
Auburn answered with a 12-play, 69-yard drive, converting two third-and-longs and tying the score at 3-3 on Alex McPherson’s 23-yard field goal.
LSU quickly reclaimed the lead, with Leavitt completing all six of his pass attempts including a 10-yard touchdown toss to Jackson Harris that put the Bengal Tigers ahead 10-3 late in the first quarter.
LSU forced two more Auburn punts, but Hudson Kaak crushed a career long 69-yarder that pinned the Bengal Tigers at their own 5-yard line early in the second quarter.
Trailing 10-3, Auburn’s Eric Winters appeared to intercept Leavitt’s pass, but a video replay overturned the call.
LSU picked up a first down on fourth-and-2 from its 31-yard line, then capped a 14-play, 95-yard drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Leavitt to Trey’Dez Green that put the Bengal Tigers ahead 17-3 in the second quarter.
Auburn then produced its best drive of the half, marching 75 yards in 11 plays. On third-and-8 from midfield, Byrum Brown found Keshaun Singleton for 15 yards. Two plays later, on third-and-12, Brown avoided the rush, cut to his right and raced 34 yards to LSU’s 1-yard line, scoring his sixth rushing touchdown of the season.
“We were staying ahead of the chains,” Golesh said of Auburn’s scoring drives. “We were able to be efficient on first and second down. Outside of those drives, we got into some third-and-longs and that’s just not the world we want to live in.”
Perhaps the game’s pivotal moment occurred three plays later when Leavitt hit Harris over the middle for a 70-yard touchdown on third-and-5 to give LSU a 24-10 lead with 4:29 remaining in the first half. Harris made nine receptions for 178 yards and two scores.
The Bengal Tigers forced another three-and-out, drove 74 yards in 10 plays and increased their lead to 31-10 on Leavitt’s 4-yard run with 17 seconds left in the half.
LSU registered seven sacks and 12 tackles for loss while holding Auburn to 67 rushing yards on 35 carries.
“We tried to do a lot of different things to run the ball effectively today and we were obviously not effective enough,” Golesh said. “They did a good job with figuring out a way to keep it bottled up.”
LSU got the ball back to start the second half and consumed half of the third quarter on a scoreless drive that netted only 28 yards in 11 plays.
LSU (6-2, 3-2) increased its lead to 38-10 on Dilin Jones’ 12-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter.
Backup quarterback Tristan Ti’a led Auburn on a late scoring drive, scoring his first career touchdown on a 7-yard run with 24 seconds to play.
Brown completed 15 of 24 passes for 160 yards in a second straight turnover-free outing. Singleton led the Tigers with four receptions for 64 yards.
Kaleb Harris led Auburn with nine tackles, including seven solos. Cody Sigler recorded two of the Tigers’ four tackles for loss.
Auburn (4-3, 2-3) travels to Oxford, Mississippi, next Saturday at 11:45 a.m. CT to play No. 7 Ole Miss on SEC Network and the Auburn Sports Network.
“The ability to reset is the name of the game in this league,” Golesh said. “For us to be able to reset and respond, that’s the challenge. I told them the only way I know how is work, and these guys will respond.”
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer