Sept 7, 2002

Final Stats

AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn scored touchdowns on four of its first six possessions en route to a 56-0 defeat of Western Carolina before over 80,000 at Jordan-hare Stadium.

The Tigers had touchdown runs of 20 and 42 yards by Carnell Williams, followed by a seven-yard TD rush by Ronnie Brown. Auburn increased its lead to 21-0 on a 17 yard Jason Campbell to Cooper Wallce touchdown pass with 7:38 left in the second quarter.

From that point, Western's defense stiffened and to keep the game a three-touchdown deficit at halftime. Jada Sullivan made an impressive fumble recovery, picking the ball out of mid-air, then the Catamount defense forced a punt on the next Auburn possession. The Tigers ended the first half by missing a 43-yard field goal as time expired.

Auburn regained momentum as the second half started, taking the second-half kickoff and marching 80 yards in 15 plays to go up 28-0. The Tigers would find the endzone on each their next three possessions to provide the final margin.

Western had its chances to keep the game close. However, the Catamounts had two costly turnovers and failed fourth down conversion in the redzone, as well as untimely penalties. Western's first scoring chance, which ended on the Auburn 18 with an interception, was a 13-play, 62-drive highlighted by three 10-yard passes. After a seven-yard Auburn punt, Western started its next scoring chance in the Tigers' 48 and drove to the nine. On fourth and three, Brian Gaither hit Brian Rucker on a short pass, but Rucker lost his footing and fell short of the first down. The last scoring chance came at the start of the fourth quarter. After leading the Cats on a 14-play, 66-yard drive to the Auburn 16, Pat Cilento was faced with a fourth and one. While he got the one yard, he also fumbled, which was recovered by Auburn.

Manny DeShauteurs led the Catamount ground attack with 67 yards on 18 attempts. WCU quarterbacks completed 26 passes to 12 different receivers for 175 yards. Gaither was 19-of-32 for 135 yards, while Cilento was 7-o-13 for 40 yards. Michael Reeder and Xavier Godard each hauled in four passes to led the team, while Mario Brown and Lamont Seward had receptions of 36 and 35 yards, respectively.

For the second consecutive game, Rod Dunlap led the defense, tallying 10 tackles with two of those for losses. Sulliavn added seven stops to his fumble recovery, while McNeil registered six tackles with a sack.