AUBURN, Ala. – Cam can do, even against the best.
Facing the top-rated defense in the Southeastern Conference and the No. 3 unit nationally, Auburn junior quarterback Cam Newton rushed 28 times for a season-best 217 yards in leading the No. 5 Tigers to a 24-17 win Saturday over No. 6 LSU.
In thrusting his Heisman Trophy candidacy into hyperdrive, Newton led Auburn to 440 rushing yards, the program’s most ever against an SEC foe.
“We knew it was the No. 1 offense against the No. 1 defense, a clash of the titans,” Newton said. “There were licks being taken from different people left and right. We knew that would be the case going into the game, and I think we were prepared for that.”
LSU entered yielding 83.6 rushing yards a game and 242.1 total yards per contest. Auburn finished with 526 in improving to 8-0 overall and handing LSU its first defeat after a 7-0 start.
Newton’s 28 carries matched his season high from two weeks ago at Kentucky, but he still had enough energy to hurdle a fence and celebrate in front of the student section at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
“I didn’t see that exactly, but I’m sure that was impressive as well,” Auburn coach Gene Chizik said. “Every week Cam seems to be playing better, and I don’t think today was any exception to that.”
Said LSU coach Les Miles: “We worked in practice at tackling him low and wrapping him up, but there is a want in every football player to take someone on, and that’s what we did. Sometimes when that person is 250 pounds, it can be a little much.”
Freshman tailback Michael Dyer had 100 yards on 15 carries for Auburn, while sophomore tailback Onterio McCalebb had 84 on four tries, including a 70-yard touchdown with 5:05 remaining that was the difference. McCalebb has had a knack for sprinting out of bounds if he doesn’t believe there is extra yardage to gain, but he sounded different after a meeting last week with former Auburn tailback Bo Jackson, the 1985 Heisman winner.
“Bo told me to run north and south, so I cut up fast and nobody touched me,” McCalebb said.
Dyer had a long run of 29 and had a 16-yarder in the first quarter that set up a 1-yard score by Newton, but his most impressive was a 10-yard gain in the final minute of the third quarter. The 5-foot-8 Dyer kept moving the pile to the delight of most of the 87,451 in attendance.
“I felt we were all in it together,” Dyer said. “The best part about it was Cam pushing my back. It’s one of those deals where you’re like, ‘Your quarterback is doing it.’ He was fighting in there, and it made me realize that we’re all for real.”
Newton produced one of his top highlights with a 49-yard touchdown run less than four minutes into the second half to give the hosts a 17-10 lead. LSU tied it with 12:16 to play on a 39-yard halfback pass from Spencer Ware to Rueben Randle.
The final score did not reflect Auburn’s statistical dominance because Wes Byrum missed a 39-yard field goal with 2:45 left in the half that could have put the hosts up 13-3. Also, Mario Fannin fumbled in LSU territory midway through the third quarter with Auburn leading 17-10.
LSU was phenomenal at punting, placing two at the 1-yard line and one at the 2.
“We kept letting them out,” Miles said. “Every time Cam Newton dropped back, he’d end up scrambling.”
Auburn plays at Ole Miss this Saturday, while LSU is off before hosting Alabama on Nov. 6.