Young high school football players can learn a valuable lesson from Auburn vs. LSU — don’t write checks you simply can’t cash.

Stopping Leonard Fournette seemed to be a little more “difficult” than Rudy Ford foresaw.

Leading into the battle of Tigers in the SEC West, the Auburn defensive back took a slight jab at LSU’s star running back, saying “it shouldn’t be a difficult challenge” stopping Fournette.

Those could be taken as fighting words, and Fournette might as well have entered the Octagon Saturday afternoon. With one stimulating run after another, Fournette was taking out Auburn defenders quicker than Ronda Rousey submits or knocks out her opponents in the UFC.

Fournette finished the game with 228 rushing yards and three touchdowns on just 19 carries. The scary part? He could have broken the all-time single-game school rushing record had he wanted to, but Les Miles did the right thing and pulled him in the third quarter.

LSU ultimately ran away from Auburn in a 45-21 beatdown, and CBS announcers Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson stated in the closing minutes that LSU put the rest of the SEC on notice with the win. Doubters on Twitter scoffed, poking fun at Auburn being overhyped and barely escaping Jacksonville State one week prior to being dismantled by LSU. Some will say LSU earned style points, pulling off flashy plays against a defense that had multiple injuries and, quite frankly, wasn’t very good a year ago (Auburn allowed nearly 400 yards a game last season).

To those, I say you’re partly right. Actually going into this game (you can ask my Auburn coworker), I was more than confident LSU would win decisively. So the final score isn’t why I would agree with good ol’ Verne and Gary.

Instead, take a look at how LSU won. The Tigers played lights out on defense, even though Auburn quarterback Jeremy Johnson might’ve channeled his inner Jordan Jefferson and helped LSU out in the process. But on the offensive side of the ball, the Tigers were running the ball in spread sets and pounding it in the Power-I.

LSU ran multiple plays with Travin Dural going in motion, forcing Auburn’s defense to defend the speed sweep with Dural, handoff to Fournette (or Derrius Guice) or a quarterback keeper by Brandon Harris. Now, all of a sudden, LSU isn’t just relying on its ultra talented backfield and monstrous offensive line alone.

To make another mixed martial arts reference, it’s like when a fighter who’s great at striking on his feet mixes in a takedown to get his opponent off-balanced and thinking more than simply reacting. That one set alone helped LSU amass more than 400 yards rushing.

And on top of that, LSU used tight end Collin Jeter on some play-action sets. Did Cam Cameron just transform into Santa Claus? Talk about checking off everything LSU fans had on their wish list.

What’s funny is I was chatting with Adams County Christian School head coach David King at practice this week about LSU, and he made the comment, “I don’t know how they’re still getting these 5-star wide receivers to come there.” It’s only natural to question that with the way LSU has operated its run-oriented offense over the last several years.

Despite LSU only posting 100 yards passing, the Tigers were dominant against a team that was glaringly overhyped to begin with. Auburn’s struggles offensively didn’t help its defense out, which Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn acknowledged at halftime.

But the wrinkles on offense combined with the superhuman-like runs from Fournette make LSU a legitimate contender for the national championship this season.

Like Bethe Correia angered Rousey before Rousey obliterated her in a matter of seconds on Aug. 1, Ford awoke a beast in Fournette.

Next time, try to avoid tugging on Superman’s cape.

 

JAKE MARTIN is the sports editor for The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3633 or jake.martin@natchezdemocrat.com.