Jefferson gets redemption, LSU beats Auburn

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA -- Jordan Jefferson followed the worst game of his young career with his best.

Jefferson threw for a career-high 242 yards, including two touchdown passes, and scrambled for another score to lead No. 9 LSU to a 31-10 victory over Auburn on Saturday night.

After passing for 96 yards in a 13-3 loss to Florida, Jefferson quickly put that performance behind him with a touchdown pass to Terrance Toliver on LSU's first series. Toliver had a career-high nine catches for 86 yards, Brandon LaFell caught a touchdown pass and freshman Russell Shepard ran 69 yards for his first career TD.

LSU's defense was impressive as well, causing two turnovers and sacking Auburn's Chris Todd four times.

Auburn came into the game ranked eighth nationally in total offense, averaging 464.9 yards, but managed only 193 against LSU. Running back Ben Tate was held to 67 yards, 55 yards below his average coming in. Onterio McCalebb had only 3 yards on three carries.

The sacks were refreshing for LSU's defense, which entered the game ranked last in the Southeastern Conference with five and hadn't had any sacks in four games before nearly doubling its season total. LSU's first sack of the game by linebacker Harry Coleman resulted in a fumble by Todd, which safety Danny McCray recovered on the Auburn 17 to set of LSU's second touchdown on Jefferson's 15-yard scramble.

The victory assured LSU (6-1, 4-1) a chance to vault into first place in the SEC Western Division when the Tigers play at Alabama on Nov. 7. Auburn (5-3, 2-3) has now dropped three straight after opening the season with victories in their first five games.

LSU has beaten Auburn three straight times, its longest winning streak in the series since winning five straight between 1969 and 1980.

Auburn effectively buried itself under 64 yards in penalties and three turnovers in the first half, when LSU jumped out to a 17-0 lead.

Auburn was shut out in the first half for the first time this season and did not score until Wes Byrum's 24-yard field goal with 9:21 left in the third quarter made it 24-3. Auburn's only touchdown came on a 1-yard pass from backup quarterback Neil Caudle to Philip Lutzenkirchen with 3 seconds left in the game.

Todd finished 8-of-14 for 47 yards and one interception. After throwing for 12 TDs in Auburn's first five games, Todd has not thrown any in the last three.
Jefferson wasn't flawless either, losing one fumble only a few yards from Auburn's end zone. He also was sacked three times. Still, he completed 21 of 31 passes, his longest pass going for 31 yards to Rueben Randle, and was not intercepted.

Having pledged to throw deep more after completing only one pass longer than 20 yards against Florida, Jefferson did so on his first series, looking for Toliver. He didn't connect, but the play resulted in a pass interference penalty on Neiko Thorpe.

Later in the drive, Auburn's Zac Etheridge was called for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Brandon LaFell on an incomplete pass, a second 15-yard foul on the drive. That set up Jefferson's timing pass to Toliver in the corner of the end zone for a 7-0 lead.

LSU's defense produced another turnover on Auburn's next drive when Chris Hawkins made a difficult one-handed interception of Todd's pass along the right sideline. LSU then marched inside Auburn's 5-yard line, only to have Jefferson stripped by Etheridge, with Auburn recovering in the end zone for a touchback.
Auburn's third turnover of the first half, a muffed punt by Philip Pierre-Lewis, led to McCray's second fumble recovery and set up Jasper's 32-yard field goal.