The Auburn Tigers are red-hot after their stunning win against No. 1 Georgia last week, but they will not have any time to rest on their laurels, as up next for Alex Golesh’s squad is a big-time matchup with LSU, and early predictions are not in the Tigers’ favor.
As it stands, the Tigers are a seven-point underdog to their rival Tigers, though CBS Sports’ Austin Nivison believes the Tigers will lose by at least 10 points. Here’s why.
“What Auburn did last week will be commendable -- and fans will remember it forever -- but it was also extremely improbable,” he wrote. “Georgia out-gained Auburn by 74 yards, and the Tigers barely pulled out a win despite a plus-3 turnover margin. LSU's defense is athletic enough to contain Brown, and the offense is capable of putting up big numbers. It's possible the crowd and Auburn defense give Sam Leavitt trouble, but LSU is capable of winning this game by double digits.”
In fact, every CBS analyst polled about the game took Lane Kiffin’s squad to win straight-up, but a few, like Chip Patterson and David Cobb, predicted the Tigers to at least cover the spread. It’s certainly a difficult matchup for the Tigers, who could be experiencing what Kiffin called ‘relief syndrome’ after their win against Georgia.
There is a path to the Tigers winning this game, though, and it seems to run through Byrum Brown.
“If Auburn is going to put its best foot forward this weekend -- and for the rest of the season -- Brown will have to use his legs to create offense,” Nivison continued. “That worked last week in Athens... The catch is that Brown will be exposed to more hits, which increases his risk for injury. Because of that, if Auburn can get its traditional run game rolling, that takes some of the workload off Brown's legs.”
Brown seemed to have been contained a bit in earlier games, as his number was called for design plays quite rarely, but against the Dawgs, Auburn offensive coordinator Joel Gordon leaned on Brown’s legs to get the Tigers’ offense moving. It worked to great effect last week, but LSU will now be even more prepared for Brown’s dual-threat nature, which adds a layer of complexity to the Tigers’ playcalling this week.
The Tigers, coming off a marquee win, are looking to continue their momentum, and having home-field advantage should play a big part in their matchup with Kiffin’s Tigers. However, LSU has answers for most of Auburn’s offensive production, so the Tigers will likely need to get creative if they want to emerge from the Tiger Bowl with a win.
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