Auburn Live Game Day: The basics ahead of LSU at Auburn

AUBURN – It’s game day.

LSU comes to town on October 1 for game No. 5 inside Jordan-Hare Stadium. It’s the final game of Auburn’s five-game home stand to start the season.

Auburn and LSU are both looking to improve to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the SEC.

It’s the first time Brian Kelly will set foot inside Jordan-Hare Stadium after taking over the LSU program in the offseason. And it’s Kelly and Bryan Harsin’s first meeting as head coaches.

It’s a Stripe the Stadium Day inside the stadium, as fans are asked to coordinate orange or blue with their designated sections.

What to watch for

What will Robby Ashford’s second start look like? With one week to prepare before Missouri, Ashford’s first start didn’t produce much offensively for Auburn. They finished with 217 total yards and 14 points in regulation. With an additional week to prepare, can Harsin and Eric Kiesau design an offensive game plan to better suit Ashford’s abilities? Ashford completed 67 percent of his passes against Missouri, rushed for 46 yards, and didn’t turn the ball over. It’s something to build on, but Harsin and Kiesau have their work cut out against an athletic LSU defense.

How will Auburn’s defense contain Jayden Daniels? The Arizona State transfer averages 274 total yards per game, placing him inside the top 50 nationally in individual total offense. Daniels is completing 73 percent of his passes, although against Mississippi State, Daniels only completed 59 percent. However, Daniels also totaled 93 rushing yards in LSU’s lone SEC game. Daniels is a plenty capable passer, and if nothing is open, is dangerous when he takes off. The pressure will be on Auburn’s front line to contain Daniels and not allow wide-open running lanes for Daniels to pick up easy yardage all night.

Can Auburn’s defense build on last week’s performance? Auburn forced six straight punts against Missouri during the second half, and finally forced some pressure, finishing with four sacks and seven tackles for loss. LSU will be without one starting offensive guard, and starts two freshmen at tackle. Now, pressuring Daniels is a dangerous game because of his mobility, but Auburn has to find ways to pressure up the field and maintain their rush-lane integrity. It’ll be a big challenge, but if the group of Derick Hall, Colby Wooden, Eku Leota and others are going to live up to their capabilities, tonight is a great opportunity to do it.

Containing LSU’s Kayshon Boutte. The preseason All-American missed last week, but returned to the team this week after the birth of his first child. Boutte is big time, however, he’s off to a relatively slow start this season. In three games, Boutte has 10 receptions for 93 yards and no touchdowns. Last season, Boutte scored nine touchdowns in the first six games, including torching Auburn for 127 yards and a touchdown (although most of that was in the first quarter). This isn’t the game for Auburn’s defense to allow Boutte to get back on track.

How will Brandon Council fare at center for Auburn? The starting left guard expects to move over to center and start in place of the injured Tate Johnson. Council worked at center some during fall camp. Keiondre Jones or Alec Jackson will take his place at left guard. The move adds more experience to Auburn’s offensive line, and more weight in the middle, but it’s still Auburn’s “third-string” center, and fourth-string if you go back to the beginning of fall camp when Nick Brahms was still competing.

Can Auburn figure out their second-half offensive woes? Since the Ole Miss game last year, in the last seven Power Five games + Houston in the bowl game, the Auburn offense has been beyond bad in the second half, averaging three points per game in the second half in those games. Auburn hasn’t converted a third-down conversion in the fourth quarter against Missouri, Penn State, Houston, Alabama or South Carolina, dating back to last season. Last week, Auburn rushed for under 20 yards in the second half against Missouri and punted six straight times at home against one of the worst teams in the SEC. The inability to create meaningful adjustments by Harsin and his staff is alarming. Harsin said this week he and his staff are well aware of the struggles. We’ll see if there’s anything they can do differently this week.

Important links

Pate’s Perspective: How does this Auburn team want to be remembered?

Rob Pate•09/30/22

How Auburn’s defense should attack LSU’s offense

Cole Pinkston•09/29/22

The 3-2-1: Three things learned, two questions, one prediction ahead of Auburn and LSU

Justin Hokanson•09/29/22

Auburn Live Show: The Modcast heading into the LSU game

Justin Hokanson•09/29/22

How Auburn’s offense should attack LSU’s defense

Cole Pinkston•09/29/22

Scouting report: What to expect from LSU’s defense

Cole Pinkston•09/28/22

What we learned from Bryan Harsin’s Teleconference: Week Five vs LSU

Ellie Oldham•09/28/22

The line

LSU is favored by 8 points. The line has fluctuated between 7-9 points this week. Before the season started, Auburn was considered a one-point favorite.

How to watch

The game will be televised on ESPN at 6 p.m. CT.

Play-by-play: Joe Tessitore

Analyst: Greg McElroy

Sideline Reporter: Katie George

Online: Watch ESPN

How to listen

Auburn Sports Network, AuburnTigers.com, SiriusXM

Live stats

AuburnTigers.com

Twitter

@AuburnFootball

@auburnliveon3

Series Record

Auburn trails the all-time series 31-24-1.

Auburn leads 13-8 in games played in Auburn. The home team has won 18 of the last 22 meetings in the series. Twelve of the last 18 meetings have been decided by seven points or less, including all four from 2016-2019, which were decided by a total of 14 points.

Last season, Auburn won in Baton Rouge for the first time since 1999.

The last game inside Jordan-Hare Stadium between these two, Auburn won 48-11 in 2020. The 48 points scored was the most scored by either team in this rivalry, and the 37-point margin of victory was the largest by Auburn in the series.

LSU leads the series 16-14 since 1992. In 25 of the last 27 meetings, at least one of the teams was ranked at the time of the game.