Auburn ended its three-game losing streak to LSU in historic fashion.
Gus Malzahn and Auburn dominated, taking out three years of frustration in a 48-11 victory Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
It was the biggest victory in the history of the series by either team and improved Auburn to 4-2 on the season.
Here is everything Malzahn had to say afterwards.
Opening statement…
“When I look at the game, we talk about playing Auburn football. We rushed for 206 yards and held them to 32 yards. With a freshman quarterback, we knew they were going to come in here running. On defense, we had four sacks, a fumble for a touchdown and an interception that went down to the five-yard line. I’m real proud of our offensive line for running the football 200-plus yards against a national champion. They were leading the league in sacks, and we gave up zero sacks today. As far as the game goes, I thought the drive right before half – we went 99 yards for a touchdown – and the drive coming out of the locker room – 75 yards for a touchdown — it was a complete game.
“I’m real proud of our team. I’m real proud of our coaches. We’ve seen this team grow and face adversity. Here at Auburn, sometimes you face more adversity than at other places. We did that. We overcame it. We have an off week coming up. You look at our quarterback, he was 18-for-24 with no interceptions, three touchdowns and 300 yards. He rushed the ball 11 times for 81 yards and a touchdown. He’s a real quarterback. I just want to make sure everyone understands that.
“I’m real proud of our team. We’ve got momentum now. We’ve got an off week. That was the sixth straight SEC game that we had. Our bodies are really talking to us. We need to heal up. We’ve got four left. We’ll have a chance to kind of evaluate the areas we need to improve on to get the best plan for the next four games.”
On the scene in the locker room tonight after three close losses to LSU…
“Yeah, that was tough, especially on the older guys and the staff. We had three tough losses. Three years ago we were up 20-0 and they came back. They had a punt return and they ended up winning. Two years ago I mean it was extremely tough. We were winning the game the whole time, then two 15-yard penalties and they kick a field goal the last play of the game. Then of course last year. Our guys, like I said. They were extremely motivated. I said they would be, and our staff was, too, so I’m real proud of the players and the staff.”
Were the seniors excited?…
“Yeah, the seniors. We don’t have very many of them, but they were excited.”
Update on Jamien Sherwood?…
“You know, I don’t. He’s one of our best players, and we lost him pretty early in the game. It says a lot about our other guys stepping up and getting the job done. So, we’ll see. I don’t know exactly his status right now.”
On Kevin Steele’s schemes giving LSU problems last two years…
“What it was was stop the run. Stop the run, make them one-dimensional and we could pin our ears back and get after a true freshman quarterback on the road. This is one of the toughest places traditionally to play in college football, so really that was the plan. Simple as that. I told our guys, ‘We need to rush for 200 yards against these guys, we need to stop the run, make them one-dimensional, get after the rookie quarterback and take some shots.’ Really, that was really the game plan in a nutshell.”
On the two takeaways by Nehemiah Pritchett and Christian Tutt…
“I want to take you back. We had the ball down there to Seth, and we’re on the what, one- or two-yard line, and they reviewed it. He didn’t step out of bounds, and we lost the ball. That was a big momentum [swing]. Then the next series, that’s when we had the interception that you know went down to the five-yard line. We were able to run the football in I think then. Then we had the strip sack and Christian picked it up and went house call on it. The momentum really swung hard our way. We could feel it, and I think they could feel it.”
On the dominating third quarter…
“Yeah, you know I think we played our best game. They’re defending national champs. They played really well the last two weeks, and to dismantle them like we did I think it says a lot about our overall team. Not just the third quarter. We played four quarters of football. We played 60 minutes is what we did, and that’s what we’ve been talking about every game. We did that today, and like I said it’s going to give us some momentum.”
On getting to clear the bench in the fourth quarter…
“There’s no doubt. I’ll second the odd year. But yeah, it was good. With 10 SEC games, I don’t know how much you get a chance to play your backups. That’s something that kind of stresses you a little bit. We did that the entire fourth quarter and I think some of the third quarter.”
On Auburn’s linebackers…
“Our linebackers, they’re real linebackers. They played outstanding. We’re down K.J. Britt. Keep that in mind, you know. One of the most dominating defensive players in our league, and those guys are getting better each week. We were able to rotate some of the young guys in even early in the game, Riley and some of those other guys to give them some experience, but both those linebackers are really good at blitzing, and today they finished some in the pass rush.”
On the Bucks, like Derick Hall, producing tonight…
“We’ve really worked extremely hard on that. That’s been an emphasis, and we’ve improved. Their offensive line, I think, is a very solid offensive line, and for us to do it against them says a lot. I think we can continue that.”
On the offensive line today without Brandon Council…
“We didn’t have Brandon Council, and Council’s our most flexible guy. KJ—Keiondre Jones—made his first start, and to be able to run for 206, to give up no sacks—and there was stress going into this deal, because No. 8, he’s a nightmare, and there’s some other guys that are really good too. To give up zero sacks says a lot about our offensive line. They really answered the bell today. I think that’s the fourth game in a row we rushed for 200 yards; I don’t remember the last time we did that in SEC play four straight times. We did some things we can build on.”
On being able to sustain long drives…
“It’s coming together. I said, what—two or three weeks ago?—we’re a work in progress; we were a work in progress. We didn’t have spring. We didn’t have the same kind of offensive guys for a week. So, Chad and his staff has done a great job just staying to it. We scored, I think, on six straight drives we scored touchdowns. They’re starting to come together. Our starting quarterback, he got beat up pretty bad two weeks ago, and he’s establishing himself as one of the best in our league. I think it’s about time people start recognizing that. It’s something we can build upon—running the football, play-action shots, he made some really good moves with his feet, and third downs, we won the third-down battle today by quite a bit.”
On Bo Nix’s demeanor…
“He’s focused. He’s got a lot of winner in him. He played extremely well today and led us to a victory.”
On whether Bo Nix has improved his patience in the pocket in recent weeks…
“Yeah, there’s no doubt. And also, too, it works with the offensive line and the quarterback trusting protection. Our line did a great job passing off their twists. We did a very good job on No. 8, and (Nix) was very calm in the pocket. He stayed in, and that’s something Chad has been working on really hard with him. I’m really proud of Chad Morris, too. You can see this offense coming together that he envisioned. They played a complete game. Of course, Kevin and the defensive staff, against a team that had been averaging 40 points or something like that, they dominated.”
On not having a close game after the drama of Arkansas and Ole Miss wins with the contentious calls…
“It didn’t have a cloud of doubt for us. When the whistle blows, you stop, alright? I feel like we earned both those victories, so we didn’t feel that way. Other media may have said that, but today it was good to have a game really under control midway through the third quarter.”
