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LSU takes to the road in SEC play this weekend when they visit the Auburn Tigers. Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn says his program is extremely motivated heading into the game.
“We are hosting the defending national champions and have had three consecutive tough losses against LSU,” Malzahn said during his Tuesday press conference (via Auburn Wire), referring to a string of recent losses to LSU.
“If you look back at 2017, we went up 20-0, they had a big punt and got the momentum, and we lost that game. Thinking about 2018, we were up the whole game at home, we had two 15-yard penalties on the last drive, and they kicked a field goal on the last play of the game. Last year was a dogfight all the way down to the end and a tough one to take.”
Clearly, the football gods have been smiling on LSU and raining on Auburn the past few years. And while neither program has had a stellar first leg of the season, LSU is feeling marginally better this weekend than Auburn.
Auburn has had a roller-coaster season, alternating wins and losses on a weekly basis. After winning last week at Ole Miss, Auburn will look to break the pattern and snap a three-game losing streak to LSU. Malzahn knows that will not be easy to pull off.
“You look at LSU and you see a team that each week has improved,” Malzahn said on Tuesday. “They are probably playing their best game overall and have a bunch of new guys, like we do, and you can tell they are improving.”
One area Malzahn noted his program must do this weekend is improve its pass rush. This is especially true now that Malzahn has had a chance to see what last week’s starting quarterback, TJ Finley, is capable of doing running the LSU offense.
“I was very impressed with the young guy. They ran the football, and he made some good throws in tight coverage.”
“That’s one of the things we’ve talked about the last two weeks. We’ve got to continue to build upon that and make quarterbacks uncomfortable”,” Malzahn said. “That’s going to be a big factor for the second part of the season to help our defensive backs out.”
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Auburn owns the SEC’s second-best passing defense in terms of average passing yards allowed per game (220.4 ypg), but Auburn has recorded just four interceptions so far this season and opposing quarterbacks are completing an average of 64.2 percent of their attempts. Auburn also ranks in the bottom half of the SEC with eight sacks in five games. On paper, however, those numbers are comparable to what LSU has done this season.
For Auburn, a key to success may be falling on the arm of the quarterback, Bo Nix. Nix had one of his worst games of the season last year when Auburn tried springing the upset of No. 1 LSU. In LSU’s 23-20 victory, Nix completed just 15-of-35 attempts for 157 yards with one touchdown. Nix also had the only game of the year he played with a negative rushing total (-16). As Malzahn has noted, getting a better game out of Nix and the Auburn offense should be a sturdy challenge given the level of play of LSU’s defensive front this season.
“There’s no doubt it’s going to be a test,” Malzahn said. “I think they’re leading the league in sacks and they have two guys who can flat-out get after the quarterback, especially on the edge. We’re going to have to do a really good job whether it’s scheme or whether it’s situational. When they pin their ears back and they know it’s pass, they’re very effective and impressive watching them on film.”
LSU plays at Auburn this Saturday, Oct. 31 at 2:30 p.m. CT on CBS.
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