LSU In Review - Week Seven Vs. Auburn

One thing was for certain in this game: The Tigers were going to win. The LSU Tigers had a week off to lick their wounds after suffering their first loss of the season at the hands of The Tebow. They used the bye week to fine tune the offense, and the difference showed when they played Auburn. LSU dominated in every facet of the game.

The offense in particular had the breakout performance they had waited all year for. Jordan Jefferson threw for a career best 242 yards and 2 TD on 21-of-31 passing. He also had a 15 yard touchdown run after a passing play broke down, but later in the game he fumbled down on the goal line costing LSU a score, and he was sacked three times in the game.

Les Miles was probably kicking himself during the bye week for not playing Russell Shepard against Florida. Against Auburn they moved him to running back, and the dividends paid off in a big way. Shepard rushed for a team high 71 yards on only 6 carries, but most of that yardage came on a long 69 yard run just before the end of the third quarter. Jefferson was the second leading rusher with 26 yards, and Charles Scott only managed 20 yards on 10 carries. So take away Shepard's long run and LSU only gained 53 yards on 31 carries.

But the offense did more than enough in this game as the LSU defense turned in another dominating performance. Auburn boasted one of the SEC's best offenses prior to this game. They came in averaging 464 yards per game, but LSU held them to just 193. And most of Auburn's yards came late when the game was well in hand. In the first half when the game was still in doubt, Auburn was held to just 42 yards through two quarters. Auburns lone touchdown drive came late in the game against the LSU reserves.

Quotes From The Game

"We always knew we could do this as an offense. We picked the right time tonight to do it. It was important for me to do this as well. During the bye week we really worked hard on all the things that we had mistakes on."

- Jordan Jefferson -

"They beat us in about every phase of football game, from the beginning to the end and probably everywhere in between. Make no mistake about it, [LSU has] one of the best defenses in the country. We got exposed tonight in some areas. I think that was evident."

- Auburn Head Coach Gene Chizik -

"(Jefferson) was really, really accurate and put the ball about the only place you could put it. They hit some underneath, intermediate ones as well, but it was the deep balls that got us. He threw them with a really nice touch."

- Gene Chizik -

Jordan Jefferson, especially, looked terrific.  Forget about his numbers for a second (21-31, 242 yds, 2 TD, 0 INT), Jefferson looked comfortable in the pocket.  He didn't take absurdly deep drops.  He stood in the pocket, stepped up, and threw the ball with authority.  He looked off the safety and even appeared to progress through his reads.  He didn't just lock on one guy and force the ball in there.  Even when his receivers let him down with some drops, Jefferson never got flustered, he just kept doing good things and good things happened in turn.

- And The Valley Shook -

Auburn fared decently on both lines of scrimmage. Where Auburn and LSU diverged was in the play of skill folks, on both sides of the ball.

- Track 'Em Tigers -