Arkansas State vs. Auburn final stats

AUBURN, Ala. ? Sixth-ranked Auburn (9-1, 5-1) was too much for Arkansas State (5-4, 3-1) Saturday as the Tigers defeated the Indians 27-0 before 78,493 fans at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn.

Despite being intercepted twice by the ASU defense, Auburn quarterback Brandon Cox completed 12 of 21 passes for 251 yards and two touchdowns, including a 13 yard strike to wideout Courtney Taylor on the Tigers' first possession to give Auburn an early 7-0 lead.

Auburn added a pair of field goals from John Vaughn to take a 13-0 lead at the half.

The other two Tiger touchdowns came on a one-yard run from fullback Carl Stewart, and a 19 yard pass from Cox to Stewart, both in the third quarter.

“We came down here to compete, and have an opportunity to win the football game, and obviously we did not get that done,” said ASU head coach Steve Roberts. “We were proud of the effort of our players. I thought they played extremely hard.”

Junior Montis Harrison, and freshman Daylan Walker both notched their first career interceptions when they picked off a pair of Cox passes, and linebacker Ben Owens also grabbed his first career interception when he intercepted Auburn quarterback Blake Field late in the game.

ASU's best chance to get on the scoreboard came in the fourth quarter, when the Indians drove from the ASU one to the Auburn three, but a field goal attempt on fourth and goal went awry when holder Brett Shrable could not hold on to a high snap from Nick Emfinger.

Offensively, ASU quarterback Corey Leonard completed nine of 17 passes for 61 yards, while tailbacks Reggie Arnold and Chris James rushed for 37 yards each, and wideout Kevin Jones added four catches for 34 yards.

In addition to the three interceptions by the ASU defense, junior Khayyam Burns added eight tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery, while Jonathan Najm and Tyrell Johnson added five stops each.