The first came on San Jose State’s first drive, when Gray’s pass was deflected by Auburn cornerback Blake Countess into the hands of linebacker Justin Garrett.
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Barber is satisfied with reaching the end zone five times this game. Auburn is now 20-4 all-time under Malzahn when they score over 30 points in a game. The Tigers punched in the first of five touchdowns by running back Peyton Barber on the day soon after, putting San Jose State in a hole they weren’t able to climb out of.
Tailback Tyler Ervin, fresh off his 300-yard game against Fresno State last week, accumulated 165 yards on 27 carries, but he fumbled once on a 4th-down dive in the second quarter that was recovered by Auburn.
Barber, a player who was buried as the third-string option leading up to the season opener against Louisville in the Georgia Dome a month ago, eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the fourth game this season. The Spartans finished with 406 yards. They’d failed to score a touchdown in last week’s loss to Mississippi State, but Barber emphatically ended that drought.
“I feel as if a lot of that (loss) was my fault and going back to watch the film there was a hole I missed where I would’ve scored had I been patient enough”, Barber said. The Tigers returned a pair of kickoffs deep into San Jose State territory, giving their struggling offense a shorter distance to work with.
The Spartans do have the benefit, as coach Ron Caragher said, of having “been there, done that” at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
The offense will continue down the road of “just really making our mark and showing that we’re a downhill team”, Barber said. A few in the shrunken Auburn crowd booed coach Gus Malzahn’s decision to kick a field goal on fourth-and-1 in the final quarter despite the fact that it could make it a three-score game. “It was definitely a critical win that we needed”. 500 with a win over San Jose State (2-2) in this one.
By that time, thousands of Auburn fans had already hit the exits.
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Auburn has a star of its own, with the bye week coming up, improvements will be made and Barber will get the opportunity to rest up for another SEC match against the Kentucky Wildcats on October. 15.
