LSU Tigers lead Auburn Tigers at the half

Also, it looks as if the purple and gold may have finally found a solution to their quarterback puzzle. Johnson continues to turn the ball over at an alarming rate – six interceptions, one fumble – while struggling to complete even the simplest of throws. In fact, he was second team, preseason All-Southeastern Conference just last July. Truitt had a catch for 13 yards and two end-around carries for 24 yards.

Got a question for head coach Gus Malzahn?

“We’ve got to grow up, ” USC linebacker Su’a Cravens said.

After forcing another Auburn punt – the Tigers punted four times and had an interception on five first-half drives – quarterback Brandon Harris drove LSU 78 yards in 13 plays.

LSU quickly fell behind 17-0 in the first quarter as the offense went three-and-out the first three times it had the ball. He bruised his knee on his third touchdown on a 1-yard dive, but it was not serious as he returned to action on special teams.

Tanner Mangum drove the Cougars to the Bruins 42-yard line, but his fourth-down pass was intercepted by Myles Jack, allowing the Rose Bowl crowd of 67,612 to finally celebrate.

Thirteen plays later, the Bengal Tigers added to their lead. His track record at Auburn suggested that he’d be able to get the ship pointed in the right direction once again, but this game shows that he’s not there… and actually, not even close to being there.

At least he didn’t throw a pass backwards, which is what Johnson did in Aaron Brooks style. “He managed the clock and the situations we asked him to operate for us”. This stuff can’t be made up in a staff meeting.

And kept going. It was an example of what Miles later called Fournette’s unusual combination of speed, strength and balance – “all the adjectives you could use to describe him”.

Fournette is just a sophomore, but he looks like a grown man playing among boys this season. Just a good one.

“They scored 41 points on us”, Godchaux said. The Rebels have been a quality team for year; however they were limited by the inconsistent play of former QB Bo Wallace.

“In the formation they were in, they wanted to single-up and go at Kevin”, Adams said. “That’s what happened today”. LSU was not ranked in any of the final polls after last season for the first time since the 2008 season.

Auburn (2-1, 0-1), which needed overtime to avoid an upset by Jacksonville State a week earlier, trailed 24-0 at halftime and never threatened thereafter.

“Today we faced major adversity”, Malzahn said.

With the victory, LSU improves to 2-0 overall and 2-0 in SEC play. It was only dominant in the last two in ’11. Wide receivers coach Dameyune Craig said the junior is “in a rut”, but also credited Auburn’s opponents with locking down on the team’s top aerial targets.

The 2011 defense was perhaps the greatest in LSU history and much better than this one will ever be, but this one could still be very good. Fournette’s backup running back Daryl Williams was rated second in the nation only to him.

Auburn entered the season with high hopes for a playoff bid thanks in part to the high expectations for Johnson, who many thought would provide a strong arm and pro potential at the quarterback position. He attributed much of the problems in the 45-21 loss to LSU to timing issues.