San Jose State quarterback Joe Gray (6) sets back to throw the ball before an NCAA college football game against Auburn, Saturday, October 3, 2015, in Auburn, Ala. The Tigers are 20-point favorites and won last season’s meeting 59-13, but that Auburn team was ranked fifth. Auburn’s average starting position was around midfield. “It was definitely a critical win that we needed”. He ran 17 times for 109 yards in the second half while Sean White only put the ball in the air twice. After eclipsing the 100-yard mark in three of the first four weeks of the season, Barber made a dent in the scorebook with a career-high five touchdowns.
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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.
“This is something that I’ve been waiting on”, said Barber.
Just like he described earlier in the week to reporters about his final two years at Auburn, San Jose State offensive coordinator Al Borges was overwhelmed by a fortunate Will Muschamp-led defense.
SECN will have coverage of this game beginning at 4:00 pm ET from Jordan-Hare Stadium. “He just keeps coming play after play and he doesn’t seem to get exhausted”.
“Four turnovers was the key to the game today because it allowed us the short field to work with and the ability to do what we wanted early on”, Malzahn said. Gray fired on a short out route, but Auburn cornerback Carlton Davis pulled off a circus interception to squash any hope of a Spartan win.
San Jose State outgained Auburn in total yards 406-342, but the Spartans were eventually ground down behind a flurry of turnovers and a relentless Tiger running attack spearheaded by Barber’s 147 yards and five scores.
Auburn can catch its breath and study what has taken it to its 3-2 record before playing again at Kentucky on October. 15.
“I think we came out and we were physical in the trenches with Auburn”, Spartans coach Ron Caragher said.
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“The bye week couldn’t come at a better time”, Malzahn said after taking a deep breath.
