LSU Football: 3 takeaways from takedown of top-10 Auburn in Week 9

3. D.J. Williams challenged the LSU rushing defense

LSU gave up only 22 yards on four carries to Auburn running back Shaun Shivers. JaTarvious Whitlow was back in limited action, carrying the ball three times for nine yards for the visiting Tigers. On 20 of Auburn’s 33 carries as a team, they netted exactly zero yards. It was an ugly performance that went a long way toward explaining why Bo Nix struggled so much when he tried to pass the ball.

One bright spot for the Auburn backfield, however, was D.J. Williams. While the Bayou Bengals had the answers for basically anybody else that their visitors might throw onto the gridiron, Williams was a beast in the backfield that stymied LSU all game long.

The freshman running back busted off carries of 70 yards and 42 yards as he found huge holes in the LSU defense. For the game, Williams finished with 130 rushing yards on 13 carries. The lone downside for the underclassman was his inability to reach the endzone for the Tigers on his visit to Death Valley.

While Whitlow is returning to health and others are higher up on the depth chart, Williams made a name for himself against a tough LSU defense. If Malzahn and his coaching staff are smart, they will find more ways to get the ball into their freshman’s hands and let him make some noise moving forward.