College football: Newton impresses as Auburn beats Arkansas St 52-26

AUBURN, Ala. — When quarterback Cam Newton walked from the bus to the stadium surrounded by screaming fans before the start of Auburn's opening game, he felt he might have a good night.

"I went deaf for a second. I just loved it and I think it was a kickoff for us mentally to know it's time," the Tigers' new quarterback said.

Making his first start, Newton ran for 171 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 186 yards and three more scores to help No. 22 Auburn beat overmatched Arkansas State 52-26 on Saturday night.

Newton, a junior college transfer who started his career at Florida, brought the crowd to its feet late in the second quarter when he scored on a 71-yard touchdown run, dashing up the middle on a keeper. That made the score 35-16 at halftime.

The performance impressed both Auburn coach Gene Chizik and Arkansas State coach Steve Roberts.

"I don't know if I have seen an individual performance better than Cam Newton's. He is the best player I have ever seen live," Roberts said. "He made a huge difference in the ball game tonight — he is hard to bring down."

Chizik said he was proud of his quarterback.

"He did some nice things when maybe something wasn't there. He turned some bad plays into good ones," Chizik said.

Newton was more critical of his performance than the coaches.

"I didn't play the best game I could have played, but I just have to watch film tomorrow and make good on my mistakes," he said.

Freshman Michael Dyer ran 14 times for 95 yards and one touchdown for Auburn. Quindarius Carr caught two passes for 87 yards and a touchdown.

"I just came out there and did what I can. I was just trying to get my feet wet and get a feel for the game," Carr said.

For Arkansas State, Ryan Aplin completed 28-of-42 passes for 278 yards and one score. Dwayne Frampton caught eight passes for 74 yards and one touchdown.

Auburn kept Arkansas State in it in the third quarter by fumbling twice in the first two minutes of the second half. The Red Wolves made it 35-23 after the first fumble on an 8-yard TD run by Derek Lawson.

Roberts said his Arkansas State team came out of the game with many things to work on.