Auburn football gets perfect tune-up win with blowout of Samford
By Zach Bigalke
Auburn football prepared for their huge Iron Bowl showdown with a dominant performance against an overmatched FCS program.
It was the kind of day one expects from a top-15 SEC West powerhouse against a sub-.500 Southern Conference afterthought, as No. 15 Auburn routed Samford 52-0 at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday afternoon in Week 13 action. Gus Malzahn’s team finished the day with 544 total yards of offense, outgaining their overwhelmed opponent by more than 400 yards by the end of the contest.
Auburn’s defense was not interested in slacking off against Samford on Saturday afternoon. In the first half, Bulldogs quarterback Liam Welch went 9-of-16 for 28 yards and an interception. Samford gained just 35 total yards in the opening two quarters. Things did not get better after the break, as the middle-of-the-road Bulldogs had no solutions for a stout Tigers defense. By the end of the game, Welch had thrown for only 66 yards and tossed another interception as Samford managed to gain only 114 yards in the shutout defeat.
JaTarvious Whitlow had a great game as he finally starts to look healthy again. In the first half Whitlow busted off two touchdown runs as he reached the intermission with 49 yards on seven carries. He also led the team in rushing in the first half, finishing with 46 receiving yards on a pair of catches out of the backfield. He did not return to the field in the second half, as Shaun Shivers, D.J. Williams, and Kam Martin took over the rushing duties. Auburn ultimately finished with 293 total rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground in the blowout win.
Bo Nix had 142 yards and a touchdown before halftime against the Bulldogs. With Auburn up by 31 at halftime, Nix didn’t need to throw the ball much after the intermission. The freshman quarterback finished the game with 150 passing yards and the one score as he completed 15 of his 23 attempts through the air. It wasn’t a statistically overwhelming performance, but — given he came out early with the game out of reach — it was a solid example of Nix managing the game as the situation demanded.
In all phases of the game, Auburn was obviously the better team. That isn’t going to cause the College Football Playoff selection committee to vault them up into the top 10 of their next set of rankings, but it will keep them well-ranked ahead of the post-Thanksgiving battle for the Yellowhammer State.
Auburn no longer has any shot at the SEC West title, even if they beat Alabama in the Iron Bowl next weekend and LSU were to somehow lose both of their next two games this season. Even so, the Tigers have a real chance to play spoiler and eliminate their rivals from the College Football Playoff discussion when they meet up at Jordan-Hare on November 30.