The Road to Glendale (1)

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Auburn Uncercover/The 247Road to Glendale: Auburn 52, ASU 26
Phillip Marshall, Senior Editor

ShareOver the next two weeks, AuburnUndercover.com will look back at each of Auburn’s victories on the road to a 13-0 record and a matchup with Oregon in the BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 10.


Mario Fannin gathers in one of his two TD passes against Arkansas StateAUBURN - Cam Newton threw his first Auburn touchdown pass, a 36-yarder to Mario Fannin, with one minute left in the first quarter of Auburn’s season-opener against Arkansas State.

But it was in the second quarter that he gave the first real signal of what was to come.

Dropping to pass, Newton saw the field open in front of him. He pulled the ball down and took off, outrunning the Arkansas defense for a 71-yard touchdown. Newton added touchdown passes of 48 yards to Quindarius Carr and 38 yards to Fannin. He ran 2 yards for another.

Kodi Burns scored on a 3-yard run after Arkansas State took a 6-0 lead. Freshman Mike Dyer scored Auburn’s final touchdown on a 2-yard run. Wes Byrum kicked a 24-yard field goal. Auburn had 608 yards offense.

Newton broke an Auburn record for rushing yards by a quarterback with 171 yards on 15 carries. He completed 9-of-14 passes for 186 yards.

Arkansas State coach Steve Roberts certainly was impressed.

"I don't know if I have seen an individual performance better than Cam Newton's,” Roberts said. “He is the best player I have ever seen live.”

It was a shaky start defensively. Arkansas State quarterbacks passed for 323 yards and two touchdowns. Overall, there was little to indicate a championship run had begun.

Gene Chizik, who began his second season as head coach, said when it was over that much remained to be done.

“Obviously if you watched the game, there were a lot of glaring things that weren't very good,” Chizik said, “but they were things that I think are very fixable and things I think we can build on.”

Newton gave himself and his team mixed reviews.

“We are always happy with the win, but there are things we made mistakes on,” Newton said. “We just have to come out the next game and do better. I didn’t play the best game I could have played, but I have to watch film tomorrow and correct my mistakes.”


Key statistics

TEAM

First downs: Auburn 23, ASU 22

Rushing yards: Auburn 367, ASU 43

Passing yards: Auburn 241, ASU 323

Passes: Auburn 11-16-0, ASU 33-49-0

Total offense: Auburn 606, ASU 366

Sacks by: Auburn 4m ASU `1

Fumbles-lost: Auburn 2, ASU 0

Third-down conversions: Auburn 5-10, ASU 5-18

Time of possession: Auburn 25:37, ASU 34:23

Penalties-yards: Auburn 7-60, ASU 5-28

INDIVIDUAL

RUSHING

Auburn: Cam Newton 15-171, 2 TD; Mike Dyer 14-95, 1 TD; Onterio McCalebb 9-80, 0 TD.

ASU: Derek Lawson 16 -45, 1 TD; Jerry Robertson 7-20, 1 TD.

PASSING

Auburn: Cam Newton 9-14-0, 186 yards, 3 TD.

ASU: Ryan Aplin 28-42-0, 278 yards, 1 TD.

RECEIVING

Auburn: Mario Fannin 4-65, 2 TD; Quindarius Carr 2-87, 1 TD; Darvin Adams 2-58, 0 TD.

ASU: Dwayne Frampton 8-74, 1 TD; Taylor Stockemer 6-58, 0 TD.

DEFENSE

Auburn: Daren Bates 10 tackles, 1 QBH; Aairon Savage 7 tackles, 1 TFL; Antoine Carter 4 tackles, 3.5 TFL, 2.5 sacks; Nick Fairley 4 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 1.5 sacks.

ASU: M.D. Jennings, 11 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 1 sack, 1 FF, 1 FR; Tausean Holmes, 7 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 1 FF.