Auburn faces off against LSU on Halloween for the first time in 122 years. The last time these two teams played each other on the spookiest day of the year, LSU left with a victory. That won’t be the case this year and here’s why:
Auburn keeps getting lucky
Shaun Shivers : 11 carries for 60 yards & a TD (During a kickoff, it appears Shivers touched the ball on the hop. That means anybody can recover it, Ole Miss recovered it for what should be a TD for the Rebels. Instead the play was ruled a touchback) pic.twitter.com/fHkNgyuJzE
— Lee Harvey (@MusikFan4Life) October 24, 2020
Right now Auburn is 3-2, but they could very easily be 1-4. This is in large part due to the Tigers getting bailed out by the officials against Arkansas and Ole Miss. Yes, Bo Nix fumbled the ball against Arkansas and yes, Shaun Shivers touched that ball, but you aren’t about to hear me complain about it. If Auburn makes a ghoulish mistake Saturday chances are it’ll go undetected by officials. It is what it is and at this point it’s an advantage.
The Tank is unleashed
The stiff arm 😱
The diving TD 👀TANK. BIGSBY. pic.twitter.com/NDethhkXkI
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) October 24, 2020
Y’all know the only reason the betting line swung to LSU’s favor this week was because of their 52-24 beatdown against South Carolina, right? I mean it makes sense, sure. Auburn lost to South Carolina, LSU decimated South Carolina, therefore by the transitive property of winning LSU should probably destroy Auburn. But here’s the thing, that game against South Carolina last week wasn’t exactly perfect.
LSU allowed South Carolina more than 400 yards of offense and the Gamecocks averaged over five yards per carry. If I’m Chad Morris I’m jumping all over that weakness and showcasing my running back rotation with talented freshman Tank Bigsby at the helm.
Kevin Steele cooks up defensive concoction against freshman QB
One of my favorite things about Kevin Steele is how good he is at finding where the strength of his team is and scheming them chances to make an impact, even if it's out of position. Here, Sherwood is essentially playing 3rd LB because he can cover in man and zone on 3rd and long pic.twitter.com/cJWRgPZqJ7
— Andrew Stanley (@SanAndreasAU) October 29, 2020
Last season Kevin Steele’s defensive scheme against LSU was brilliant. Heck, almost everything Steele does is brilliant. While Auburn doesn’t have Derrick Brown nor Marlon Davidson’s menacing presences at the line this year, they still have a talented linebacker corps and antagonistic secondary which can still pose as a menace to a young, inexperienced quarterback. I’m anxious to see what he has up his sleeve Saturday.
Very much like last week’s game the common theme is this is another must-win game for Gus Malzahn. Malzahn is 2-5 against LSU with his last victory being 2016. If Auburn gets the run game going early I like his chances of winning.