Irons gains 183 yards, helping No. 4 Auburn run past Wazzou

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Top 25 Overview

It was over when... John Vaughn nailed his third field goal of the night to give Auburn a 12-7 lead in the second quarter. Brandon Cox padded the score with a TD pass to Brad Lester 3 minutes later. Gameball goes to... Kenny Irons. The senior transfer rushed for 186 yards on 20 carries in the win. Expect to see more plays like his third quarter, 58-yard run to score. Stat of the game... 34:51 The new rules changes make clock management critical. Auburn controlled the ball a full 5 minutes more than Washington State. Complete Top 25 Overview

Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	17	21
Total Yards	274	484
Passing	150	191
Rushing	124	293
Penalties	2-20	3-40
3rd Down Conversions	4-14	3-12
4th Down Conversions	1-1	2-2
Turnovers	1	0
Possession	25:58	34:02

Individual Leaders

Washington State Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Brink 11/24 67 1 1 Rogers 6/9 83 1 0	Auburn Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Cox 11/18 191 1 0 Stewart 0/1 0 0 0
Washington State Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Woolridge 9 86 0 42 Hutsona 6 30 0 15 Blunt 1 24 0 24	Auburn Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Irons 20 183 1 58 Herring 1 42 0 42 Lester 6 37 1 12
Washington State Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Bumpus 6 37 0 16 Hill 4 18 1 10 Jordan 3 22 0 12 Boyd 2 57 1 50	Auburn Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Taylor 3 51 0 25 Irons 3 40 0 15 Smith 2 47 0 41 Lester 1 34 1 34

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER				WSU	AUB
	FG	11:16	JOHN VAUGHN 31 YD FG Drive info: 5 plays, 43 yards.	0	3
	FG	5:21	JOHN VAUGHN 44 YD FG Drive info: 10 plays, 47 yards.	0	6
	TD	2:09	JASON HILL 2 YD PASS FROM ALEX BRINK (LOREN LANGLEY KICK) Drive info: 9 plays, 80 yards.	7	6
SECOND QUARTER				WSU	AUB
	FG	14:09	JOHN VAUGHN 52 YD FG Drive info: 7 plays, 30 yards.	7	9
	FG	7:37	JOHN VAUGHN 30 YD FG Drive info: 8 plays, 57 yards.	7	12
	TD	4:59	BRAD LESTER 34 YD PASS FROM BRANDON COX (JOHN VAUGHN KICK) Drive info: 3 plays, 46 yards.	7	19
THIRD QUARTER				WSU	AUB
	TD	14:20	KENNY IRONS 58 YD RUN (JOHN VAUGHN KICK) Drive info: 1 plays, 58 yards.	7	26
	TD	7:14	CODY BOYD 50 YD PASS FROM GARY ROGERS (LOREN LANGLEY KICK) Drive info: 6 plays, 90 yards.	14	26
FOURTH QUARTER				WSU	AUB
	TD	11:02	BRAD LESTER 12 YD RUN (JOHN VAUGHN KICK) Drive info: 8 plays, 78 yards.	14	33
	TD	2:54	CARL STEWART 1 YD RUN (JOHN VAUGHN KICK) Drive info: 9 plays, 43 yards.	14	40

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) -- Kenny Irons routinely sidestepped defenders and the Auburn Tigers did the same with the opening day jitters that have plagued them in recent years.

Irons rushed for 183 yards, including a 58-yard touchdown scamper to open the third quarter, and the fourth-ranked Tigers beat Washington State 40-14 on Saturday night.

No season-opening pain on the Plains this time. Only celebration, optimism and enough big plays to overcome any deficiencies against the Pac-10 visitors.

"We proved that we can come out strong," said Irons, who had a career-high 223 all-purpose yards on 20 rushes and three catches. "From here we can't go down. All we can do is go up and get better."

The Tigers had an array of big runs from Irons, accurate kicks from John Vaughn, on-target passes from quarterback Brandon Cox -- and a big gamble by coach Tommy Tuberville on a fake punt.

Auburn had lost three of its last four openers, but will get to enjoy their highest preseason ranking since 1990 at least another week.

"We won't have to hear about not winning the first game for awhile," Tuberville said.

Irons opened Auburn's first drive with a 42-yard carry and never stopped pounding away at the Cougars.

His only misstep came on his biggest play. Irons slowed down around the 5-yard line at the end of his field-reversing 58-yarder to taunt pursuing defender Tyrone Brackenridge and nearly stepped out of bounds, but the play stood after a review by instant replay officials.

Irons said he was responding to trash-talking from the Cougars.

"I toyed with him a little bit. It's not very classy, but they talk a little trash," Irons said. "I'm a humble person. It wasn't very classy, and I don't think I'll do that again."

Cox was 11-of-18 for 191 yards and had a 34-yard touchdown pass to backup tailback Brad Lester, who also ran for a 12-yard score.

But the Cougars couldn't slow Irons down.

"He is as good as I have seen," coach Bill Doba said. "There were a lot of times I thought we had him but he ran right through our arms. We didn't tackle very well."

Vaughn kicked four first-half field goals, including a career-long 52-yarder, for Auburn's first 12 points. Then, Lester and Cox made the Cougars pay for a blitz with their swing pass as he dove over the goal line.

The defense hounded Washington State quarterback Alex from the start, sacking him on three of the Cougars' first four plays. Brink passed for 2,891 yards last season but only 67 against the Tigers, completing 11-of-24 passes with a touchdown and an interception.

His longest pass play was 16 yards, and he seldom got time to find open receivers downfield against an aggressive defense under new coordinator Will Muschamp.

"We were fighting an uphill battle from the beginning," Brink said. "With the No. 4 team in the country, you can't get off to a slow start."

Plus, tailback DeMaundray Woolridge went out with a deep thigh bruise after gaining 86 yards on nine carries. His status will be evaluated during the week.

The Cougars replaced Brink for one series midway through the third quarter. Gary Rogers quickly moved them downfield before finding tight end Cory Boyd wide-open across the middle for a 50-yard touchdown, making it 26-14.

The Tigers then resorted to trickery in an attempt to regain momentum. Linebacker Will Herring took the direct snap on a fake punt from Auburn's own 16, running 42 yards.

"The momentum was switching quickly. They had scored, they had held us to three-and-out," Tuberville said. "I could feel the momentum change. When I saw they were lined up perfect, I took a big swallow knowing it was going to be run. It went perfect.

"That won't be the last one we run this year."

After a halfback pass fell incomplete, Vaughn missed a 36-yard field goal.

But the Auburn defense held and Lester scored on a 12-yarder with 11:02 left in the fourth quarter. After that, the rout was back on.

Auburn's defense shut down the Cougars biggest weapon, receiver Jason Hill, who averaged 110 yards per game last year.

He caught a 2-yard touchdown pass but finished with four catches for 18 yards.

Auburn outgained Washington State 484-274, gaining 293 yards on the ground without a turnover.

The Tigers also silenced some of that talk about being slow starters.

"We can't come out and reflect on the past," said defensive end Quentin Groves, who had a sack. "We didn't want to start the season on a sour note, because if we lose one we're out of the (national title) hunt."