Leonard Fournette could carry No. 14 LSU on a long, long run

BATON ROUGE — He’s witnessed so many highlights over the years, it’s hard to rank them. But on Saturday, Lanard Fournette saw his older brother do something new.

“That’s probably No. 1,” he said, shaking his head and laughing at the thought. How, exactly, did big brother do that?

Leonard Fournette was barreling downfield. An Auburn defensive back catapulted himself high, seeking maximum impact. But Fournette just lifted his right arm and pushed. It looked like more of a shrug. Tray Matthews flipped, right over Fournette’s head. The LSU running back never slowed down. Touchdown — and an emphatic statement on a day filled with them.

LSU’s 45-21 beatdown of Auburn on Saturday signaled many things, including an arrival in the national conversation. But start with Fournette’s performance, which fueled so much of everything. Afterward, “the Flipper,” as the Fournette family and several friends had already named that third-quarter touchdown run, had become part of the growing legend around LSU’s sophomore running back. When it happened, junior safety Rickey Jefferson couldn’t help himself.

“Mama,” he yelled, “there goes that man!”

Forgive him for stealing a well-worn catchphrase. It fit perfectly as Fournette ran around and past and occasionally over Auburn. And following Fournette’s lead, it’s time to consider where LSU might be going.

“We’re really good,” Fournette said afterward. “We’re better than what we thought.”

Better than what anybody thought. Though it’s become clear Auburn was overrated in the preseason, it also looks like LSU was severely undervalued.

Les Miles has a team constructed just the way he likes. The defense is physical and very fast. Starting with the line, the offense has a nasty attitude and several playmakers. There are lingering questions at quarterback, because this wouldn’t be a vintage LSU team without issues at that position.

But most important, LSU has Fournette. It wasn’t just his 228 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries. It was how he got them.

“He did some things today, I went, ‘Wow,’ ” Miles said. “He took one of their tackles and threw him into another tackle and still came out in the other end. … At times it can be very difficult to tackle him.”

If at times it can be difficult to decipher Miles, just stick with the first sentence: Wow. And understand that the greater meaning might lie in what all of it meant, both on Saturday and for the future.

He’s the best running back Miles has ever had, and maybe, the coach allowed afterward, the best he’s ever seen, a rare blend of power, speed and agility. He’s the potential difference-maker for a team that Miles compared favorably to his best teams. LSU has played only two games, but someone asked: Is this your best team since 2011?

“I think our football has potential to be dominant on offense and defense and special teams,” Miles said. “I don’t know that those (previous) teams necessarily had that total package.”

Fournette is the complete package, a 6-1, 230-pound sophomore who is living up to the considerable hype that preceded his arrival as the American Family

All-USA offensive player of the year out of New Orleans’ St. Augustine High. In two games, he’s rushed for 387 yards, an 8.2-yard average, six touchdowns and an ever-growing pile of highlights.

“The kid’s a freak, a special back,” left guard Will Clapp, and that was evident long before Saturday.

But it was obvious on the very first play from scrimmage, when he barreled 71 yards to set up a quick touchdown and more importantly, set a tone: LSU would physically dominate Auburn. The final stats included 411 rushing yards. It began, as Fournette was quick to remind, with an offensive line that routinely opened “humongous holes ... so I just have to do what I do.”

That LSU had only 74 passing yards — Brandon Harris was 12-of-17 and missed several open receivers — didn’t seem to matter. Again. At some point, you figure the passing game will matter. But when?

Now 2-0 — overall and in the SEC, and it doesn’t seem to matter that the opener against McNeese State was canceled because of bad weather — LSU’s next five games are Syracuse, Eastern Michigan, South Carolina, Florida and Western Kentucky. Win all of those and suddenly it’s Nov. 7, Alabama in Tuscaloosa, College Football Playoff on the horizon.

If we’ve learned anything in the first three weeks — or just Saturday — it’s not to count on anything. But in Fournette, LSU seems to have a rare, transcendent asset.

Afterward, he spent a good half-hour backed against a wall in a room beneath Tiger Stadium’s north end zone, taking questions from reporters. Was he fired up by dismissive comments from Auburn defensive back Rudy Ford last week? Had he wanted to reenter the game to try for the school record? What about the Heisman? Mostly, he shrugged them off like he had Matthews. Oh yeah, what happened on that play, anyway?

“I can’t really explain it,” he said. “I thought I was gonna have to jump over him, but he went over the top, so I just kept leverage.”

And kept going. It was an example of what Miles later called Fournette’s unusual combination of speed, strength and balance — “all the adjectives you could use to describe him.”

As usual, LSU has the first two traits in abundance. And with Fournette running wild, balance might not be absolutely necessary. What’s possible for LSU?

“We’re 2-0 right now,” Fournette said, but then he supplied the prescription for continued success: “We’ve just got to keep pounding.”

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