Behind the Box Score: Auburn

Ten straight wins over Auburn in Tiger Stadium. It’s just fun to say. Do it, right now. Say out loud, “Auburn has lost 10 straight times in Tiger Stadium.” Feel better? I know I do.

This was a hard fought win, probably the toughest win of the year for our Tigers. While the Florida game had its moments, you never really felt that Florida could actually win that thing, that they simply couldn’t sustain their performance. This weekend? Yeah, it felt like Auburn could win. Right down to the end. I wasn’t satisfied until the final second ticked off the clock.

I really hate Auburn, and I enjoy watching them lose. Thankfully, I get to see that happen with amazing frequency in Tiger Stadium. Let’s dig into the box score, and make our smiles even wider.

508. Some of the postgame chatter centered on a disappointing offensive performance, but its more that the team couldn’t turn a good performance into points. The offense gained 508 yards on 88 plays. I’m pretty happy that we’ve reached a point that the LSU offense can gain 500+ yards and we’re disappointed by it. That’s how you know the team has arrived.

45.5. Auburn’s average yards per punt. OK, it’s not good for them that they punted the ball 10 times, but Auburn had three punts of 50+ yards, three inside the 20, five for a fair catch, and NO touchbacks. Arryn Siposs had himself a game. LSU managed a mere 7 yards on 2 returns and one of those returns… well, let’s not talk about that. LSU averaged 34.3 net punt, meaning Auburn gained 10 yards on average from an exchange of punts. Remember when we dominated special teams? Well, not last weekend.

9/19. LSU’s third down conversion rate. It’s not that bad, nor is that great. The problem is that there were NINETEEN 3^rd downs. Way too many. LSU actually went 6 of 10 on short yardage 3^rd downs (4 yards or less), and Burrow went 3 of 6 for 22 yards on 3^rd downs. That’s bad. I don’t think it’s a going forward problem, but Burrow did not have his best game, and still threw for over 300 yards and scored two touchdowns. That’s what a Heisman contender does.

15-35-157. Bo Nix’s passing line. He added -16 rushing yards thanks to 3 sacks, took 2 grounding penalties, and had an ATVDQBPI of 3.43. The dude had a bad game. Yet in the end, he still almost had a chance to work his magic. Nix is like a horror movie villain, you have to kill him a lot.

27-216. Combined penalty yards. The refs did not cover themselves in glory. If you followed only one side on Twitter, you’d think the refs were out to get their team. Read them both together, and you have to entertain the notion that maybe the officiating was just terrible. On top of that, Auburn and LSU sort of hate each other, and they committed a lot of penalties. There were four personal foul penalties, two by each team. It was out of control. God, I love this game.

26-136. Clyde Edwards-Helaire rushed for a 5.2 average, you ingrates. Better recognize that kind of performance. He was awesome. Taking out sacks and kneel downs, LSU rushed for 205 yards on 40 carries. That’s a good day.

6. Consecutive punts in the fourth quarter. LSU had multiple chances to put this game away, and Auburn had multiple chances to come back. It was great for the defense to keep forcing the punts, but bad that the offense couldn’t put this one away. Whodathunkit?