LSU Football Turns In Finest 1st Half Of Season In Taking 31-10 Lead At Auburn With 346 Yards Of Offense

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

LSU took the War out of Eagle in the first half of its game at Auburn on Saturday by silencing any War Eagle battle cries with 346 yards of offense to 167 while taking a commanding, 31-10 lead at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Quarterback Sam Leavitt completed 21 of 27 passes for 261 yards and three touchdowns for the No. 18 Tigers (5-1, 2-2 Southeastern Conference), who came in on fire for the 11 a.m. kickoff on ABC. Leavitt did catch a break after an interception he threw into coverage was ruled not a catch.

Wide receiver Jackson Harris caught seven of those passes for 139 yards, including a 70-yard touchdown reception that featured 55 yards of a sprinting Harris after the catch for a 24-10 lead. Harris also caught a 10-yard touchdown from Leavitt for a 10-3 lead with 3:48 left in the first quarter.

Leavitt cut hard and scored on a 4-yard run with 17 seconds left in the half for the 31-10 lead. He rushed four times for 18 yards despite some limitations from his injured hamstring.

Tight end Trey’Dez Green started for LSU after missing the last four games with a knee injury. He caught four passes for 40 yards with a 15-yard touchdown catch for a 17-3 lead at the 9:48 mark of the second quarter. Running back Dilin Jones broke several tackles at first contact at usual in gaining 67 yards on 13 carries.

LSU held Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown to 27 net yards on 12 carries, including sacks by star position player Ty Benefield and edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen. But Brown broke pocket containment for a 34-yard scramble to set up his 1-yard touchdown run to get Auburn within 17-10 with 5:42 left in the first half.

LSU coach Lane Kiffin entered the second half 59-0 in games in which he led by 14 points or more at the half in 15 seasons at five schools – Tennessee, USC, Florida Atlantic, Ole Miss and LSU.

“We moved the ball really good,” Kiffin said. “Sam had the one really bad decision, and we lucked out at getting that one back. But other than that, really controlled the line of scrimmage really well. And on defense, we had the one bad series (on the TD drive), two third-down conversions, and we’ve got to tackle the guy (Brown). We’ve got to come out and play really clean and close this thing out.”