Auburn Is For Real

It was a dominant win. It was a satisfying win. It was an emotional win.

It wasn’t the win anyone was expecting, but something so much better.

For the first time in 15 years, Auburn was tougher and more physical than LSU for four quarters. From the opening kickoff to the final whistle, Auburn imposed its will on an inexperienced but still talented LSU team, and never let them anywhere close.

For the first time all year, Auburn played a complete game, dominating all facets of the contest.

Just seven-point favorites in a game in which Auburn desperately needed to make a statement, Gus Malzahn and his made the biggest and best statement possible en route to Auburn’s most impressive conference win since 2004.

Last season wasn’t a fluke. Auburn is for real, and they’re not going anywhere.

This season in the SEC has been, at best, utterly unpredictable. Anyone can beat anyone, and there have already been countless twists and turns.

It’s a legitimate possibility that Ole Miss and Kentucky could play for the SEC title game. Or Mississippi State could square off with Missouri in Atlanta.

And amidst all of the madness and fickle landscape of the rankings, combined with the nightmarish nature of its schedule, Auburn needed to take a win at the start of a grueling SEC lineup to close the season.

Auburn did us one better. They came out of the locker room on a mission, tired of being underestimated by everyone else, and tired of losing to LSU.

Before last night, Auburn lost six of its last seven meetings with the Bayou Bengals. And that one victory came with a little help from a guy named Cam Newton.

But this time, Auburn didn’t need Cam Newton. They’ll be just fine with Nick Marshall.

The clutch senior quarterback was in complete control of the game from the first snap, when he took a draw play up the middle for 18 yards. From there, he and the Auburn offense ran away with it.

The unit many feared was starting to struggle rolled up 556 yards, 298 rushing and 268 passing, putting together its most complete performance since Malzahn took the helm last year. Its 41 points were the most Auburn scored against LSU since 1999, a 41-7 victory in Baton Rouge.

And let’s not forget about the defense.

Auburn’s defense is playing the best football I’ve seen since the beginning of the 2008 season. Through five games now, the Tigers are giving up only 306 yards and 14 points a game, the best mark through five games since 2008 for an Auburn defense.

That defense gave up 246 yards and ten points per contest through the first five weeks. The difference was how terrible the offense was that year.

Last night, Auburn’s defense was fast, aggressive, and smart. They held LSU to just 280 total yards, seven points, and a completion percentage of 33. And the most impressive stat of the night? LSU didn’t convert a single third down on 13 attempts.

Still playing musical chairs at quarterback, Les Miles pulled true freshman Brandon Harris halfway through the third period in favor of struggling sophomore Anthony Jennings, though he didn’t fare much better.

From start to finish, Auburn’s defense was clogging up the middle, pressuring whoever the quarterback was, swarming to the ball, and never yielding.

All in all, it was about as perfect of a game as we could have asked.

When all is said and done, we might look back on this game as the most important of Auburn’s season, for a few reasons.

A 1-6 record against them from 2007 to 2013 in mind, LSU has always been a major stumbling block for Auburn. I was a student at Auburn for four years, and I only saw one victory against LSU. Since the turn of the century, Auburn was 5-9 against the Bayou Bengals before last night.

It was time to reverse that trend.

But it wasn’t just a grudge match. More than it usually wants to beat LSU, Auburn needed a convincing win for the sake of its momentum moving forward.

With the road matchup against Mississippi State this weekend looming larger than anyone likely expected, Auburn very much needed to come out with some fire. Had Auburn laid an egg against LSU, I would have my doubts about Auburn’s chances over the next six weeks.

But as it is, Auburn pulled off the unexpected yet again in its dismantling of LSU.

Auburn needed to make a statement, and make a statement it did.

It truly was a perfect storm for Auburn. The offense caught fire exactly when it needed to, and the defense played its best game yet.

Everything fell into place for Auburn, and the rest of the nation got to see what can happen when this team is in sync.

Gus Malzahn’s offense has always been a force to be reckoned with, and if the defense can sustain its current level of play, the Auburn Tigers could develop into an even better team than it was at the end of last season (as hard as that is to believe).

I’m not saying for a second that Auburn will win every game left on its schedule by 34 points. That’s just an absurd notion, unbelievable at best. But I do think that the win revealed what Auburn is truly capable.

When they play the way they did last night, Auburn can beat anybody.

Auburn is for real, and they looked like the best team in the nation on Saturday.