GAMEBREAKERS: Kent State

Auburn started a bit slowly during its win over Kent State Saturday, but Gus Malzahn stuck with his ground game and bludgeoned the visitors to the tune of 464 rushing yards.

Yikes.

With that in mind, here are five plays that told the story of the Tigers' 55-16 victory ...

So Auburn clearly has made a decision about pulling their offensive linemen to create blocking matchups in space. We saw a few instances in the Oregon game, more during the victory over Tulane and even more against the Golden Flashes Saturday.

This play here is a GT counter — the backside guard and tackle pulling around down blocks from the center, frontside guard and frontside tackle. Counters typically include mis-direction flow in the backfield, which doesn't happen here, but the concept here is to trick second-level defenders into mis-diagnosing the play's direction.

That happens here. Watch the linebackers flow to the far side, which gives tailback Kam Martin all the room he needs to break off a long touchdown run as the first quarter winds to a close.

This play added intrigue during the early stages of the second quarter. Kent State used a trips formation to isolate STAR (nickel) Christian Tutt in single coverage. The route? Simple. A skinny post with no safety help — and a throw that was good enough. Tutt is a valuable player due to his ability to jam receivers and hit like a linebacker, but he's not made to hang with fast receivers downfield. Good call, good execution.

Auburn led by just 14 points at halftime, but used its initial drive of the second half to set a tone. The biggest play was this run here — yet another GT counter run, this time to the left side with RG Mike Horton and RT Jack Driscoll as the pullers. Blocking unfolds according to plan while two unaccounted defenders ran themselves out of the play completely. A perfect storm. A great way for Auburn to open the second half.

Another Kent State play? Sort of. This was the Golden Flashes' third snap of the game, which was notable because defensive tackle Derrick Brown went down afterward. He didn't return. This has the potential to be a major development — Brown is the unquestioned star of this (generally) outstanding defense — though the senior was spotted along the Auburn sideline during the second half without any obvious signs of physical trouble. Heck, it's difficult to tell what happened here.

Still, this play had Auburn on edge. Life moves pretty fast.

This play ended all hope for Kent State. It's a brilliant call insofar as the visitors were getting worn down trying to stop the counter and power runs. With Auburn in a heavy, unbalanced set and with LG Marquel Harrell running a (dummy) pull, KSU allocated all resources toward run defense.

But this was a pass.

Chalk it up as a 49-yard touchdown pass from Bo Nix to Eli Stove — and the coup de gras on this night.

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