Going into the matchup between Auburn and LSU, there was some reason to have hope for an Auburn team that had not thrown over 100 passing yards against a power-five opponent in nearly a full calendar year.
LSU’s defense, specifically their passing defense, has been absolutely dreadful thus far this season. The Bayou Bengals were fresh off getting 50-pieced in Oxford where Ole Miss went over 700 total yards and followed it up with giving up 39 to Missouri where the (Columbia) Tigers went over 500 yards themselves.
Coming off the bye week and their previous matchup being a close loss to the 2x defending national champion Georgia Bulldogs, there was optimism for Hugh Freeze and this offense to get on track.
And while Auburn did finally eclipse that ever-elusive 100-yard passing mark, that was just about the only thing to be happy about for Auburn fans in a game where they were simply dominated from start to finish.
LSU only took four plays to open the game with a 75-yard scoring drive, while Auburn went three-and-out on both of their first two possessions, totaling a combined -8 yards on both tries.
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Auburn did have a nice touchdown drive to cut the 17-0 LSU lead to 10 and gain some momentum in the beginning of the second quarter, and LSU would take a 20-7 lead into the half.
For as poor as the LSU defense has been this season, the offense has been spectacular and the fear for Auburn was that they simply would not be able to keep up. This proved to be the case, with LSU essentially putting the game away via a touchdown on their first possession of the half followed by an Auburn three-and-out and another LSU touchdown to put the score at 34-10.
Auburn did respond with by far their best drive of the game after this and got into the end zone by way of a 10-play, 84 yard drive and even cut the lead to two possessions with a 2-point conversion.
But it was too little too late, with LSU answering quickly with another touchdown of their own to extend the lead to 41-18.
Following an Auburn turnover-on-downs, LSU put the ball in the end zone once more and the final in this one is an embarrassing 48-18 30-point beatdown.
Payton Thorne was not impressive once again, finishing 12/23 for 102 yards while Robby Ashford mixed in once again and threw a touchdown pass.
As for where Auburn goes from here, the Tigers face another strong offensive team next week in Ole Miss. They do get to return home to The Plains, which will hopefully provide a spark to a team that desperately needs one right now.
Follow Michael Brauner on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP
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