By KACE KIESCHNICK, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
No. 18 LSU (5-2, 2-2 SEC) at Auburn (4-2, 2-2 SEC)
Saturday, Oct. 24 • 11 a.m. • ABC
Auburn, Alabama • Jordan-Hare Stadium (88,043 capacity)
Spread: LSU -7.5 | O/U 51.5
OVERVIEW
No. 18 LSU will head to Auburn to face a same-named Tigers team coming off of one of their biggest wins in the last decade. First-year head coach Alex Golesh led them to a 27-24 upset win over then-No. 1 Georgia on the road. As they return home to the Plains, they will be welcomed by a thunderous home crowd in Jordan-Hare Stadium still riding the emotional high from the victory in the Deep South’s oldest rivalry, but Golesh will need his players to leave their emotions from the night back in Georgia to avoid a letdown game. After welcoming 39 transfers this off-season, 13 of whom followed their coach from South Florida, he is on the right track to reviving an Auburn program that has not won more than six games since 2019. LSU is still searching for its first road win this season, but the offense is rolling as quarterback Sam Leavitt improves each week. The defense is coming off its first shutout since 2007, and coach Lane Kiffin will have to see if that dominance can travel for the first time this season.
KEY STORYLINES
Road Woes
When LSU and Auburn face off on Saturday, it will have been 735 days since LSU’s last Southeastern Conference win on the road. The Tigers have lost eight conference road matchups in a row and its last six away games altogether. LSU’s win over Arkansas in Fayetteville in 2024 was the last one. In LSU’s two road losses this season, the offense was hindered by presnap mistakes early and the defense was flat-footed to start the game before settling in during the second half. Kiffin pointed out that despite its struggles to start fast on the road, LSU was still just one play away from tying or winning each of those games. However, LSU has looked like a drastically different, dominant team at home than it has away from Tiger Stadium this year. The defense has given up over 400 yards in each of its two road games while the offensive line failed to protect the pass rush at Ole Miss and lead the run game at Kentucky. Defense and the run game are supposed to be the things that travel, but they have been a handicap for LSU so far this year. That will have to change for LSU to break its unfavorable streak.
Returning Tigers?
For once this season, some good injury news for LSU – tight end Trey’Dez Green and edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen were left off the initial SEC availability report on Wednesday, signaling that they should be available to play on Saturday. Green has been sidelined since the Ole Miss game with a knee injury and was listed as out on every initial availability report since then. Umanmielen left the Mississippi State game early with a head injury. There is still a chance either of the two pop up on the report later in the week or that one or both of them, Green especially, are a healthy scratch versus Auburn as LSU heads into a bye week and then a game against Alabama. If they are both back, it is a major shot in the arm for the Tigers. Green was LSU’s best offensive weapon before going down against the Rebels, and he seemed to be growing even more comfortable alongside quarterback Sam Leavitt. Umanmielen is tied for second in the nation with eight sacks and has an argument for the best player on the defensive side of the ball. Both are game-changers if they take the field.
Do-It-All Byrum Brown
Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown was one of the South Florida playmakers that followed Golesh to his new job at Auburn in the offseason. After throwing for 3,158 yards and 28 touchdowns last season, he is off to less productive start this year, completing 119 of 185 passes for 1,205 yards and eight touchdowns. The Auburn passing offense ranks 14th in the SEC with 212.2 yards per game, but Brown is also the leading rusher for a run game that is sixth in the league with 182 yards per game. He has 107 carries (more than Auburn’s top two running backs combined) for 459 yards and five touchdowns. At times, he is the Auburn offense, which is equally impressive as it is concerning for the Tigers. Because he has been asked to create so many plays on his own, he has thrown seven interceptions this season and been sacked 23 times, more than any other quarterback in college football. He can hold the ball too long in the backfield, but he is a physical runner and dynamic improviser. LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker contained Marcel Reed, but he is not absolved of his struggles against mobile quarterbacks.
Auburn’s Run Defense – The Linchpin
In all four of Auburn’s wins this season, the Tigers allowed 130 rushing yards or less to their opponents. That 130-yard performance was accomplished by Baylor in Week 1, which Auburn won by stopping a two-point conversion with nine seconds left. In its SEC wins, Auburn allowed Georgia 113 rushing yards and Vanderbilt 112. In the two losses this season, the Tigers gave up 237 rushing yards to Tennessee and 243 to Florida. Those are two of the league’s top rushing offenses, but so are the Bulldogs. Georgia did average four yards a carry against Auburn, but it only ran the ball 28 times. Auburn’s rushing defense did look improved, especially considering it was facing a Bulldog offensive line that tore through Alabama the week before, but the Tigers still rank 13th in the SEC with 143 rushing yards allowed per game. LSU has averaged 196 yards on the ground per game this season but has failed to eclipse 100 yards each of the last two weeks. That simply cannot be the case on the road on Saturday. LSU needs to test the Auburn front and control the clock with the run game to eliminate a hostile crowd and tire the defense by keeping them on the field while Auburn’s offense moves at its blistering pace.
(Auburn) TIGERS TO WATCH
QB Byrum Brown: Fifth-year senior is 119-of-185 for 1,205 yards, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions, 107 carries for 405 yards and five touchdowns
RB Jeremiah Cobb: Senior has 58 carries for 306 yards and two touchdowns, 2025 third team All-SEC
LB Elijah Melendez: Sophomore leads team with 54 tackles, nine tackles for loss, four sacks and five passes defended, named to 2025 SEC All-Freshman team
CB Rayshawn Pleasant: Fifth-year senior has allowed 11 catches for 146 yards on 23 targets this season and is yet to give up a touchdown, 2025 All-SEC kick returner averaging 21.8 yards a return this year
KEY MATCHUPS
DL Cody Sigler vs. LSU OL
Sigler makes an impact all over the Auburn defensive line, but the 6-foot-2, 308-pound fifth-year senior is primarily a run-stuffing exterior tackle. The Arkansas State transfer has 20 tackles, four tackles for loss, one sack and two forced fumbles. His average depth of tackle is just 1.7 yards past the line of scrimmage and he has hurried opposing quarterbacks 10 times this season, according to PFF. The interior of tLSU’s offensive front is at times the only weakness on the offense, but it is a glaring one. With another raucous road crowd, LSU cannot afford to have someone like Sigler making hay in the middle of the trenches.
RT Stanton Ramil vs. DE Princewill Umanmielen
Six different Auburn offensive linemen have given up a sack this season and five have given up two or more, according to Pro Football Focus. Ramil is one of two who has allowed three sacks this year, but PFF still grades him as the Tigers’ best pass protector on the starling O-line (72.4). Umanmielen is a beast with eight sacks and 11 tackles for loss, but with the creative pressure LSU can send, Auburn will have to pick its poison and decide to leave Ramil one-on-one with Umanmielen or send help and leave the rest of the struggling front exposed.
STATS AND TRENDS TO KNOW
LSU leads the all-time series with a 33-24-1 record, but the Tigers are 10-12 at Auburn.
Unranked teams that upset the No. 1 team in the Associated Press Poll are 23-13-1 the following week, but 2-6 against ranked teams
Kiffin is 14-16 in road SEC games
Kiffin is 2-3 against Auburn
THE OUTLOOK
Turnovers and time of possession are keys to almost any football game, but they will be essential for LSU in another road conference battle. Much like the Mississippi State matchup, both offenses like to run up-tempo. Kiffin said he started the game especially fast to counter the Bulldogs’ defense and then compared that defense to Auburn’s. But it would not be surprising to see LSU slow down a little to extend possessions and wear down the Auburn defense. That does not mean the Tigers will stray from their typical aggressive offensive philosophy. LSU’s passing game under Leavitt has come into its own, and Auburn has no answer for the depth and talent of the Tigers’ offensive weapons, particularly if tight end Trey’Dez Green returns in top form from a knee injury at Ole Miss.
If LSU is going to be aggressive, it needs to take care of the ball and force turnovers of its own. Both quarterbacks have had interception problems this season. Auburn beat Georgia because it forced three critical takeaways. LSU needs to play clean football for four quarters if it wants to come away with its first away win of the Kiffin era.
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