Auburn crushed Alabama State 63-9 last night, and it could’ve been a lot worse if the Tigers had A) thrown the ball more than a dozen times B) tried with short fields late C) wanted to make it that bad. Still, it’s probably not a good idea to run up the score on your I-85 neighbor. The starters were out late in the second quarter for the most part, and the game wasn’t in question from the time that Daniel Thomas scooted into the end zone with his pick six.

So, what did we think right after the final whistle? Let’s see:

SNAP JUDGMENTS

“That was a bunch of fun! Everybody got to play. Most guys played well, a few didn’t. I think the only legitimate concern I had was with Malik, he knew he was auditioning for next season and he was pressing, but he got outplayed by Cord. Other than that, War Eagle, y’all. Bring on LSU.” - Ryan Sterritt

“429 rushing yards, no serious injuries, and lots of guys got to play. Other than the four fumbles and an inexplicable safety, I say, mission accomplished. It’s officially LSU week! War Eagle!” - Will McLaughlin

“Quick take: we didn’t do super great on third downs, but that’s a bit of a nit to pick. This was a laugher and one of those games where there wasn’t a ton we could learn about Auburn. I’m excited and nervous for LSU week, and hope they are slower than Anthony Schwartz too.” - Son of Crow

“Awesome game overall. Fun to see some freshmen turned loose. However, they didn’t help Gus’ freshmen paranoia by fumbling so much...” - AU Nerd

“Anthony Schwartz is very fast.” - James Jones

“After the last couple of seasons - Jacksonville State, Mercer, ULM - it’s nice to come out and blow someone out with little to no effort. What’s even better is that we did it without showing anything. We were better than Alabama State on pure talent from our first string to our fourth string, and just by running the vanilla offense we could outclass them on the field. Gus got to do just that tonight. We only threw the ball fourteen times, and even worked in a bunch of the young guys. Boobee seemed to take the reins as the number one running back, Anthony Schwartz looked fantastic, and I can’t wait to get him more involved. Shaun Shivers was the same, and I think both of those guys earned more playing time going forward. We were able to keep some guys out of the game (Darius Slayton most noticeably), and build some depth for LSU next week. All in all, this was the kind of win you want to see from the paycheck opponent.” - Jack Condon

...

That was the Auburn offense we were used to seeing, with the dominating run game (on both sides of the ball). The Tigers averaged 7.3 yards per carry and allowed just 47 yards on 35 attempts to the Hornets. It was pretty obvious that the defense is head and shoulders above most offenses that they’re going to see this season.

With the offense, we’ve seen it take a while for Gus’ desires to get into a rhythm, and I think playing a team like Alabama State that allows you to do just that is good this early in the season. Auburn’s had the distinct advantage of getting the warmup win and the statement win in the first two weeks.

This is the kind of game that we can put behind us quickly, and start to look ahead to LSU in what will likely be the best matchup of next weekend’s slate (no apologies to Ohio State and TCU).

War Eagle!