It is hard to find a way to quantify Cam Newton's show against LSU today with numbers, but we'll try one: Until today, LSU had not allowed any team to run for more than 152 yards this season; Newton rushed for 217 en route to setting a new record for rushing yards by an SEC quarterback in a single season.
It was part of the newest star turn by a quarterback who now has to be considered the favorite to bring the SEC its second Heisman Trophy in as many years. On a record-setting touchdown run -- it gave Newton more total TDs in a single season (27) than any other player in Auburn history -- Newton astonished the CBS broadcasters, almost the entire Twitter universe and anyone else following the game by bobbing and weaving through the LSU defense before dragging Patrick Peterson into the end zone with him.
And so one of the best redemption stories in the SEC continued this year. Newton, after all, fell from grace at Florida after the infamous laptop incident, then left for good when it was clear that Tim Tebow was going to be the star last year. Whatever lessons he learned from his trip through the junior college world, it was well worth it for him and for Auburn.
The 24-17 score is one of those that looks closer than it actually was. Auburn outgained LSU 526-243, shredding the Bayou Bengals' rushing defense for 444 yards. In the process, Auburn took control of the SEC West and made itself the easy favorite to win the conference outright as long as it can defeat Alabama at the end of the season.
In a year in which each of the SEC contenders would like to have at least one game back, Auburn is the only one that will gladly take its list of accomplishments so far. And now they are the only undefeated team left. As long as they have Cam Newton, you have to like their odds of staying that way.