It’s been nearly two decades since Auburn won in Baton Rouge and the visiting Tigers are making sure they reverse their fortune early on in their annual meeting with LSU on Saturday afternoon, jumping out to a 23-14 halftime lead and not really looking back.
Gus Malzahn’s crew scored on their first four drives of the game, knocking home a long field goal to kick off the scoring and then really seizing control when quarterback Jarrett Stidham found a wide open Will Hastings for a 49 yard touchdown. The Auburn signal-caller finished the half with an impressive 159 yards on just seven completions on a day where there was no much resistance from the LSU defense.
Stidham to Hastings
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) October 14, 2017
Wide Open
Touchdown @AuburnFootball pic.twitter.com/xcOTlszlXi
That wasn’t all the Tigers from Alabama were able to do on offense however, as Kerryon Johnson scored his FBS-leading 13th rushing touchdown of the season and was already up to 116 yards on the ground as well. In short, not much could go wrong when Auburn had the ball.
The same could not be said for their opposite numbers. LSU failed to get much of anything going until the second quarter when they busted open a jet sweep that went for 70 yards by Russell Gage. The receiver added a touchdown just before the end of the half on an incredible diving effort while teammate Stephen Sullivan scored off a jet sweep on 4th and goal two drives prior for the team’s only points.
We believe today was the first time #LSU's been down by at least 17 points in the 1Q of at home since 2001 Florida (21-3).
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) October 14, 2017
It’s been a point of emphasis this week to note that Auburn hasn’t won at Death Valley since 1999 and let’s just say that the best opportunity the team has had for a victory is certainly looking like it after a half of play on Saturday afternoon.