Starters get rest as Auburn wins easily

AUBURN — The astronomical numbers put up by Chris Todd and Co. weren’t the most important stats to come from Saturday’s homecoming romp over Furman.

It was the zeroes he and the majority of Auburn’s starters on both sides of the ball put up in the second half, as in snaps played, injuries suffered and droplets of sweat broken.

The Tigers did what they were supposed to do Saturday. They scored six first-half touchdowns to set up a second half full of R&R for all the players they’ll desperately need at full strength for Amen Corner, overwhelming the Paladins 63-31 before 81,506 fans.

They mostly followed the lead of Auburn’s starters, too, getting out of Jordan-Hare Stadium well before the Tigers put the wraps on their highest-scoring homecoming victory since 2004.

Gene Chizik called the picture-perfect day “fun.” Defensive coordinator Ted Roof said it was a “wonderful thing” that Auburn, which has played 10 consecutive games and will hit 11 next week at Georgia, was able to play 70 players, which included 16 walk-ons and all 14 seniors.

“We certainly got a lot of people in there,” Roof said. “There’s no question about that.”

Even when the Paladins rattled off back-to-back touchdowns in the third quarter against an Auburn defense littered with walk-ons, inexperienced freshmen and players at positions they’d never played their entire life, Chizik said he didn’t think for a second about putting his workhorses back in the game.

“I was committed to going with young guys and letting them play,” he said. “That was really indicative of how football games go. They have to play through those times. You have to keep them out there and let them play.”

That clearance-sale mentality — everyone must play! — was enabled by a first half that couldn’t have been executed any more efficiently.

The Tigers (7-3, 3-3 SEC) scored touchdowns on their first five possessions with none lasting more than 3 minutes. By the time Ben Tate scored his second touchdown near the end of the first half, Auburn was up 42-3 and had 414 of its season-high 655 yards of offense compared to the Paladins’ 59 — all but 8 coming on their first drive of the game.

“Everybody had their head in the game, and there’s nothing else to say,” Tate said. “We did what we had to do.”

Yes, they were the Paladins, a middle-of-the-pack Championship Series team, but Todd’s historic first half will go in the Auburn record books, regardless.
Todd completed his first 14 passes on his way to finishing 17-of-18 for 256 yards and four touchdowns — three going to Darvin Adams. His 94.4 completion percentage broke Jason Campbell’s record of 92.3 and gave him a 287.2 quarterback rating, which translates to a perfect 158.3 at the professional level.
Not bad for a senior whose job status appeared tenuous after Auburn’s third straight loss at LSU on Oct. 24.

“I really think it is important as far as just everybody playing with confidence and really believing in what we’re doing,” Todd said. “Over the last couple weeks, having some big wins, I think, is really important for us.”

The second half was by no means glamorous but included a number of highlights made by players whose names rarely dot the box scores.

—Freshman Anthony Gulley, playing on both sides of the ball because of Auburn’s depth issues in the secondary, rattled off back-to-back touchdown runs in
the fourth quarter from 13 and 50 yards, respectively.

—Highly touted freshman wide receiver DeAngelo Benton caught his first pass of the season, and then caught five more, on his way to an 88-yard day.

—Backup quarterback Neil Caudle followed Todd’s lead, going 10-of-12 for 117 yards.

—Freshman defensive end Dee Ford plucked an interception off a Nick Fairley deflection.

—Eric Smith scored his first career touchdown.
—Walk-on Ikeem Means led the Tigers with six tackles, followed by sparsely used freshman Jonathan Evans and another walk-on, Woody Parramore.

All the while, Auburn’s starters — some leaning on Gatorade coolers, others parked on a folding chair — watched and laughed from the sidelines.

“Now,” safety Demond Washington said, “we can rest our legs, get in the ice tub and get ready for a really important game.”

First quarter
13:03 Auburn 7, Furman 0: Darvin Adams 6-yard pass from Chris Todd. (Wes Byrum kick.) Drive: 6 plays, 51 yards, 1:57. Key play: On third-and-4 from the Furman 32-yard line, Todd hit Tommy Trott with a 26-yard pass.

7:00 Auburn 7, Furman 3: Matthew Cesari 23-yard field goal. Drive: 12 plays, 51 yards, 6:03. Key play: On fourth-and-2 from at the 35, Auburn jumped offside to give Furman a first down.

4:08 Auburn 14, Furman 3: Ben Tate 9-yard run. (Byrum kick.) Drive: 8 plays, 80 yards, 2:52. Key play: Freshman Travante Stallworth had a 15-yard end-around run on the first play.

1:10 Auburn 21, Furman 3: Mario Fannin 24-yard pass from Chris Todd. (Byrum kick.) Drive: 5 plays, 73 yards, 1:53. Key play: Ben Tate juked a Furman defender out of his shoes on a 19-yard run, two plays before the TD.

Second quarter
12:03 Auburn 28, Furman 3: Darvin Adams 23-yard pass from Chris Todd. (Byrum kick.) Drive: 4 plays, 55 yards, 2:12. Key play: On second-and-16 from Auburn’s 39, Mario Fannin took an inside handoff 30 yards.

7:53 Auburn 35, Furman 3: Darvin Adams 41-yard pass from Chris Todd. (Byrum kick.) Drive: 6 plays, 71 yards, 2:30. Key play: On the touchdown, which was a wide receiver screen, offensive tackle Lee Ziemba got out in the flat fast enough to throw a block to spring Adams.

0:41 Auburn 42, Furman 3: Ben Tate 5-yard run. (Byrum kick.) Drive: 4 plays, 56 yards. 1:17. Key play: Wideout DeAngelo Benton made his first career catch on the possession’s first play. It went for 26 yards.

Third quarter
12:51 Auburn 42, Furman 10: Jerry Williams 6-yard run. (Matthew Cesari kick.) Drive: 1 play, 6 yards, 0:03. Key play: Auburn punt returner Philip Pierre-Louis dropped a punt at his own 6-yard line, which Furman recovered.

10:33 Auburn 42, Furman 17: Tersoo Uhaa 19-yard run. (Cesari kick.) Drive: 4 plays, 37 yards, 1:34. Key play: Eric Smith fumbled the ball on the second play of Auburn’s drive, giving Furman the ball at the Tigers’ 37.

1:18 Auburn 49, Furman 17: Eric Smith 2-yard run. (Byrum kick.) Drive: 9 plays, 81 yards, 4:57. Key play: DeAngelo Benton had two catches for 36 yards.

Fourth quarter
9:50 Auburn 56, Furman 17: Anthony Gulley 13-yard run. (Byrum kick.) Drive: 8 plays, 62 yards, 4:50. Key play: On third-and-9, Neil Caudle hit Philip Lutzenkirchen with a 21-yard pass to keep the drive alive.

6:33 Auburn 56, Furman 24: Jerry Williams 1-yard run. (Cesari kick.) Drive: 6 plays, 69 yards, 3:17. Key play: Chris Forcier hit R.J. Webb with a 41-yard pass to put Furman at the AU 1.

5:03 Auburn 63, Furman 24: Anthony Gulley 50-yard run. (Byrum kick.) Drive: 3 plays, 61 yards, 1:30. Key play: Gulley ran all three plays of the drive.

0:21 Auburn 63, Furman 31: R.J. Webb 17 pass from Chris Forcier. (Cesari kick.) Drive: 10 plays, 71 yards, 4:42. Key play: The TD pass came on fourth down.