LSU Football: Grading the Tigers Game vs. Auburn

Many thought that LSU would be in trouble entering Saturday's matchup against SEC foe Auburn.

The Tigers were forced with the challenge of playing without arguably their best player on offense and defense due to suspensions.

But even without star CB Tyrann Mathieu and RB Spencer Ware, the Tigers were outstanding on Saturday, marching to a 45-10 win over the defending National Champions and proving to the college football world they are indeed worthy of that No.1 ranking. 

Let's break down LSU's big win and hand out some report card grades Bleacher Report Style!

Quarterbacks

LSU coach Les Miles made the decision to continue and stick with his two-quarterback system. It worked again to perfection on Saturday against Auburn.

Senior Jarrett Lee started the game, as he has every time this season, and completed 14-of-20 passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns. He was near flawless and continued his expectational connection with Rueben Randle.

Jordan Jefferson was also a little more involved in the passing game, completing two passes, including a 42-yard strike to Randle early in the second quarter.

The two combined for just seven total incompletions. 

Grade: A-

Running Backs

The college football world was interested in seeing how the Tigers would fare without Spencer Ware, and they looked to be just fine.

As a team, the Tigers rushed for 174 yards on 36 carries. Backup Michael Ford led the way, picking up 82 yards, while freshman standout Kenny Hilliard carried it 10 times for 65 yards and two touchdowns. 

Alfred Blue, who was another name expected to pick up the slack for Ware's absence, was pretty quiet with 17 yards.

Overall, pretty solid for a crew of backups.

Grade: B+

Wide Receivers

This may have been the best game for LSU wide receivers yet.

Jarrett Lee and Spencer Ware seem to get the most attention on the high-powered offense, but Rueben Randle is a dark-horse All-Ameircan candidate; he is that good.

Randle had a big game again on Saturday, hauling in five catches for 106 yards and two big-play touchdowns, both of which came in the second quarter.

Russell Shepard got in the mix on the first drive of the second half, hauling in a 10-yard TD pass from Jarrett Lee.

Outside of those two, not a whole lot. But no big drops and great hands by Randle makes his an A- worthy performance.

Grade: A-

O-Line

This offensive line faced a huge challenge this weekend, needing to pave the way for a crew of backup running backs.

It wasn't at all a problem for this dominant group.

The Tigers O-Line paved the way for 174 yards on 36 carries, an average of 4.8 yards per carry. They also did a great job in protecting Lee and Jefferson against an Auburn defense that is pretty well respected around the SEC.

Grade: A

D-Line

LSU's defensive line did a solid job at creating plenty of pressure on Auburn new starting quarterback Clint Moseley.

The Tigers forced an interception and fumble recovery on defense. But most importantly, they got pressure at the line of scrimmage. Auburn carried the ball 34 times for just 87 yards, an average of 2.6 yards per carry.

It can't get much better than that.

Grade: A-

Linebackers

LSU's linebackers have kind of been the odd group out of this dominant defense.

But the Tigers run defense was exceptional. Not only did they hold the defending National Champions to a lousy 2.6 yards per carry average, but they held preseason All-SEC candidate Michael Dyer to just 60 yards and not a sniff of paydirt.

This group keeps getting better every game.

Grade: A

Secondary

The biggest question of this weekend was: How was LSU going to fare without All-American cornerback Tyrann Mathieu?

The answer was, pretty darn good.

Perhaps people forgot that opposite of Mathieu is Mo Claiborne, who was a preseason All-American candidate and is actually the No.1 corner on this team.

Ron Brooks filled in at corner and had an interception return midway though the third quarter, which really broke the game open for LSU.

This LSU secondary blanketed Auburn receivers throughout the game, and the result was that Auburn quarterbacks were just 14-for-24 for just 161 yards. 

Tyrann who?

Just kidding.

Grade: B+

Special Teams

The return game continues to be pretty average with not much in the punt or kick returns.

Kicker Drew Alleman connected on his only field goal attempt and was a perfect 6-for-6 on extra points.

Again, the star of this special teams unit was freshman punter Brad Wing, who averaged over 50 yards per punt, which is incredible for any punter, not less a freshman.

We would like to see more from the return game, but other than that, solid yet again.

Grade: C+

Coaching

Not a chance that Les Miles was going to get out-coached by Gene Chizik, the same guy that decided it would be a good idea to make a quarterback change days before his team took on the No.1-ranked team in the country.

He should take a note on how Les Miles handled his quarterbacks, because the results have shown it has worked like a charm.

Now, Miles gets two weeks to prepare for his biggest challenge of the year.

Grade: A-

Intangibles

Playing without three suspended players, two of which were arguably the best offensive and defensive players on the team, LSU did not flinch for a second in this much-anticipated SEC matchup.

The 45-10 score marked the biggest deficit by a defending BCS champion in the past 25 years.

This was arguably the most complete game of the year for the Tigers. They will now prepare for the game of the year on Nov. 5, with an SEC showdown against rival Alabama.

It's sure hard to find any real flaws when the No. 1 team in the nation rolls over the defending National Champs by 35 total points.

Overall Grade: A