Write On Sports LLC - "Second-Half Surge Lifts Tigers Past Bulls" by Frank Sita

Second-Half Surge Lifts Tigers Past Bulls

2006-09-24 02:33:06 | By: Frank Sita

For the first time all year, the Auburn offense didn’t produce much in the first half of a football game. In fact, the Tigers basically slept through the initial 30 minutes against the Buffalo Bisons, still feeling the impact of the 7-3 victory over LSU last week.

However Auburn woke up with four touchdowns in the second half and cruised to a 38-7 triumph over the visitors from New York, a 42-point underdog, Saturday afternoon at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn.

“This was a good win for us,” said Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville after the game. “Buffalo played keep-away from us in the first half, but I’m proud of the way we came back in the second half. We wanted to rest as many starters as we could. We never got into the flow of the game in the first half. However I’m proud of the way we won this game.

“We’ve got a short week of practice because of the game Thursday night in South Carolina. We’ve got to be more prepared because this will be a game where everybody will be watching. I just hope we learned a lesson about being prepared out there against Buffalo.

“When you don’t play with emotion, you don’t play very well. And that’s part of the equation. You can’t play with it every week. You could tell even with the crowd, everybody was still kind of thinking about last week.”

Auburn got a first-quarter touchdown from tailback Brad Lester, who filled in for an injured Kenny Irons with 83 yards on 18 carries, while John Vaughn booted a 46-yard field goal in the second period for a 10-0 halftime advantage for the Tigers against the out-manned but resilient Bulls. Robert Dunn’s 35-yard punt return set up Vaughn’s field goal on the last play of the first half.

Buffalo had three chances to score in the first half but the visitors missed a field goal from 30 yards and gave up the ball on downs twice, the second coming after a pair of sacks on Willy.

After the sluggish first half, Auburn came out firing on all cylinders in the third period as Lester scored his second touchdown of the game, this one from four yards out, giving AU a 17-0 cushion.

Tiger quarterback Brandon Cox, who was 6-of-10 for 134 yards with an interception, hit fullback Carl Stewart with a 54-yard pass to set up the Lester score. Cox was one of the walking wounded for Auburn, still hobbling on a gimpy right leg that was injured against LSU last week. The junior gave way to Blake Field in the fourth period.

“Guys were expecting to be up by 30 points in the first period,” Lester said after the game.

Buffalo, which fell to 1-3, got its only score of the day on a five-yard scoring pass from quarterback Drew Willy to Evan Wallace on fourth-down and goal. Willy was 12-for-21 for 111 yards, while Bulls running back James Starks ran 20 times for 66 yards.

But Auburn (4-0) got a 2-yard scoring run from Tre’ Smith (57 yards on eight carries), upping the Tiger count to 24-7 and never was threatened. Ben Tate, who rushed for 114 yards on seven carries, scored twice in the fourth period on runs of 42 and 28 yards.

“I got a chance to show what I could do in the fourth period,” Tate said after the game.

The Tiger defense had three sacks on Buffalo quarterback Drew Willy and held the Bulls to 198 yards of total offense. Meanwhile, Auburn piled on 261 yards rushing and 153 through the air (414 total).

“We came out kind of slow in the first half, but we picked it up and took care of business,” said Auburn linebacker Merrell Johnson, who led the team with linebacker Will Herring with seven tackles. “Buffalo confused us a little bit with the option early, but we made adjustments.”

Auburn travels to Columbia Thursday to face the South Carolina Gamecocks in a nationally-televised contest on ESPN.