BATON ROUGE, LA | Auburn made history on Saturday night as it took down LSU for the first time since 1999. The game was filled with crazy plays and some huge performances out of some of Auburn’s players.
Time to grade out the position group from the 24-19 victory:
Quarterback: A
It would be criminal to give anything less than an A to the quarterbacks. Bo Nix wasn’t perfect, but he put the offense on his shoulders and led the way for Auburn. He made plays and was huge throughout the game. Given the situation he was in entering the game, it was even more impressive.
Nix’s final stat-line of 255 yards and a touchdown on 23-of-44 passing was damaged by a handful of drops. He probably should’ve been closer to over a 60% completion percentage with 300-plus passing yards. On the ground he had 12 carries for 74 yards and a touchdown.
It was a gutsy performance out of Nix in Baton Rouge.
T.J. Finley played the third drive, which was scripted according to Bryan Harsin. He went 1-of-4 passing with his lone completion going for 35 yards.
Running Backs: B
The Auburn running backs were bottled up for most of the night. LSU stacked the box and was determined to stop the run while the offensive line failed to create any holes to run through.
Tank Bigsby was basically obsolete, carrying the ball nine times for 35 yards.
But two things saved this grade.
No. 1, Jarquez Hunter. The freshman tailback continues to shine under the spotlight. On Auburn’s 92-yard drive, he ripped off a big 44-yard carry to set the offense up. He finished off the drive barreling through a linebacker for a touchdown. He finished with six carries for 80 yards.
And No. 2, Shaun Shivers as a receiver out of the backfield. Shivers caught five passes for 38 yards. It felt like he was open on every third down for a dump-off that Nix could hit for a first down.
Wide Receivers: C-
It felt like the same below-average performance from Auburn’s receivers.
Demetris Robertson led the way with six catches for 60 yards. No other Auburn receiver had more than one catch.
Kobe Hudson had a great turnaround catch for 20 yards, but he also dropped a wide open pass earlier in the game.
The room wasn’t going to get fixed overnight with Eric Kiesau taking over, but it still has quite a bit of work to do.
Tight Ends: A
This grade was about as close as it gets to an A+. Had John Samuel Shenker not dropped two easy catches, it would have been an A+. But even with the drops, it was still a stellar performance out of Auburn’s tight ends.
Shenker led the way with five receptions for 102 yards. That marked the first game an Auburn tight end had recorded more than 100 yards since Andy Fuller against Florida in 1994.
Tyler Fromm came into the game with zero career receptions. He left with three receptions for 40 yards and was the recipient of Nix’s wild fourth down touchdown pass in the second quarter.
Overall, Auburn’s tight ends were fantastic.
Offensive Line: C
The offensive line wasn’t awful against LSU, but it wasn’t good, either. Just an average performance from the group.
They struggled to create any holes for the running backs to run through. LSU did stack the box a lot, but it felt like they still could’ve done at least a little better.
Pass pro-wise, they didn’t give up a sack, but a lot of that can be credited to Nix and his extreme athleticism. LSU’s defense was credited with six quarterback hurries.
Defensive Line: A
It was a necessity for Auburn’s defensive line to get home and pressure Max Johnson. Even with starter T.D. Moultry out, they were able to do just that.
The group had six quarterback hurries, Derick Hall had 1.5 sacks, Eku Leota had a sack and Colby Wooden was credited with half a sack. Leota — who was starting in place of Moultry — also forced a fumble on a hit on Johnson.
Wooden was Auburn’s second-highest graded defended by PFF with a 73.2, and it felt like he was wreaking havoc all night.
LSU was unable to get anything going on the ground, either, with 44 yards on 20 carries out of the running backs.
Linebackers: A-
Speaking of stopping the run, Zakoby McClain continued to shine as he was on the field for every defensive snap, finishing the game with a team-leading 12 tackles.
Owen Pappoe was out for the game, and Auburn opted for a hybrid 4-1-6 a lot, with McClain as the lone linebacker out there.
There were some miscues in coverage at times but the linebackers — mostly McClain — were strong.
Secondary: B+
Auburn’s secondary looked like it was in for another long night after Max Johnson opened the game 6-for-6 for 122 yards and a touchdown on the opening drive. Kayshon Boutte had three receptions for 99 yards and a touchdown. It felt like a repeat of the Penn State game with Sean Clifford and Jahan Dotson.
But, Derek Mason made adjustments. Roger McCreary started playing man on Boutte and limited him to three receptions for 28 yards for the remainder of the game.
The coverage as a whole cleaned up and was much better the rest of the way.
And on LSU’s final shot to go down and tie it, Bydarrius Knighten came down with a game-sealing interception.
Special Teams: D
It was an uncharacteristically bad performance out of Auburn’s special teams.
Anders Carlson connected on a 49-yard field goal, but missed from 51 and was blocked on a 52-yard attempt. Those are longer kicks, but Carlson has the leg to be able to make it happen.
Out of the second half, Auburn chose to get tricky and go for an onside kick. It nearly worked, and Harsin said after the game they felt really good about it, but it ended up bouncing out of bounds. Some weren’t fans of the call — I didn’t mind it.
NOT A MEMBER?
JOIN AUBURNSPORTS.COM TODAY to enjoy around-the-clock content including stories, analysis, videos, podcasts, call-in shows and The Greatest Message Board In The History of The Internet.
