BATON ROUGE, La. — The jarring impact of LSU running back Leonard Fournette’s shoulder with crumpling Auburn defensive back Blake Countess blew the top off of sold-out Tiger Stadium — and more than likely resonated with Heisman Trophy voters.
And if that 40-yard touchdown run wasn’t eye-catching enough, Fournette added a 29-yard score in which safety Tray Matthews tried to tackle the running back high, only to be sent tumbling, heels-over-head, toward the sideline.
The 6-foot-1, 230-pound Fournette finished that play with a finesse move that buckled the knees of safety Nick Ruffin, and No. 13 LSU was well on its way to a 45-21 victory over 18th-ranked Auburn on Saturday.
Fournette finished with a career-high 228 yards and three TDs on 19 carries (an average of 12 yards per carry). That gave him 387 yards and six TDs through just the first two games of the season for the LSU Tigers (2-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference), who will go as far as their stellar sophomore running back can take them.
How far Auburn’s Tigers (2-1, 0-1) fall in the national rankings will be apparent by Sunday. With their lopsided loss in Death Valley coming one week after they needed overtime to avoid an upset by Jacksonville State, odds are they’ll be the latest SEC squad to tumble out of the AP Top 25.
Fournette wasn’t the only one gashing Auburn. LSU finished with 411 yards rushing.
LSU still doesn’t really know how well it can pass the ball. Quarterback Brandon Harris, who was 9-for-14 for 71 yards in a victory at Mississippi State a week earlier, was 12-of-17 for 74 yards and a touchdown against Auburn. The dual-threat sophomore QB rushed for 66 yards and two TDS on eight carries.
LSU’s defense had a pretty good day, too, intercepting Auburn’s Jeremy Johnson once and sacking him five times. Johnson fumbled on a sack by defensive tackle Frank Herron, who also recovered at the Auburn 5 to set up Fournette’s final TD, a 1-yard dive over the pile. Davon Godchaux was credited with two sacks. Jamal Adams had LSU’s interception and dropped a chance for another.
Auburn running back Peyton Barber, who had surpassed 100 yards in each of his first two games this season, was held to 34 yards on seven carries.
Auburn trailed 24-0 at halftime and scored its first points when Johnson escaped up the middle of the field for a 65-yard scoring run early in the second half to make it 24-7, but it never got closer than that.
The temperature was 91 degrees at kickoff, tying for the fifth-hottest start to a game in Tiger Stadium. While fans were fanning themselves and guzzling discounted bottles of water, Fournette blazed 71 yards on LSU’s first play from scrimmage to set the tone for his day and set up Harris’ short TD run on an option play.
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