Auburn stomps Kent State, 55-16

The Auburn Tigers rolled out six rushing touchdowns in their 55-16 romp of the Kent State Golden Flashes.

JaTarvious Whitlow, Joey Gatewood, Kam Martin and Bo Nix all found the end zone on the ground in the blowout victory. The team rushed for 467 yards on 62 carries, which was good for a rather ridiculous 7.5 yards per carry. That kind of rushing performance will be hard to top this year, especially considering they also had three 100-yard rushers.

Whitlow, Gatewood and Shaun Shivers all hit the 100-yard threshold. Whitlow led with 135 yards on the day, while Gatewood and Shivers each finished with 102 yards apiece. Martin finished with 71 yards, while Nix had 21. Harold Joiner and Malik Miller had 19 and 13 apiece, while Cord Sandberg finished with four on this rather ridiculous day.

Speaking of Nix, he did enough through the air to get the job done. He went 12-for-16 for 161 yards, with one passing touchdown to Eli Stove. He tossed no interceptions, keeping his total down to just two through the first three weeks. His touchdown to Stove was the fourth of the season for the freshman, and Stove’s second on the season.

The Tigers defense stood up to task. They allowed just 50 percent of the 36 pass attempts on the day by Kent State to be completed, for 229 yards. Dustin Crum went 15-for-24 on the day with 198 yards and one touchdown pass. Woody Barrett went 3-for-11 for 31 yards and a touchdown as well. But obviously, those efforts were not nearly enough.

The Tigers run defense held the Golden Flashes down and then some. They allowed just 92 yards on the ground and an average of 2.9 yards per carry. Crum was the team’s leading rusher, but he picked up just 30 yards. Barrett was second with merely 27.

Undefeated through the first three games of the season, Auburn now embarks on their journey through SEC play. Their first test? A meeting with the Texas A&M Aggies this Saturday in College Station.