On the eve of No. 4 Auburn vs. No. 6 LSU (3:30 EST, CBS), The [Five] breaks down the colossal SEC showdown.
It has all the makings of a classic. It’s often that way when SEC goliaths play football in front of 87,000 misguided, significantly lubricated souls. But Saturday’s tangle of Tigers in Auburn really does retain all The [Five] Factors for a game you cannot miss:
1) Undefeated teams with title aspirations – Auburn is 7-0 and ranked in the Top 5 for the first time since 2004. LSU — somehow — is likewise unbeaten, and chasing its third BCS championship since 2003. The victor has the inside track to the SEC Championship game, which has produced the BCS champion the past four seasons.
2) Heisman frontrunners – Auburn’s Cam Newton (QB) is the best player in college football. Tiger fans marvel with comparisons to Plains legend and 1985 Heisman winner Bo Jackson. All you have to do is marvel at the stats: 1278 passing yards, 13 TD’s (5 INT’s), 860 rushing yards, 12 TD’s. That’s 2138 total yards and 25 touchdowns in 7 games. And he’s been at his otherworldly best in Auburn’s biggest games: he piled up 662 total yards, 9 touchdowns, and zero interceptions in wins over then-No.’s 13 South Carolina and 12 Arkansas. Newton on the field looks like Secretariat in pads. You pity the SEC defenders tasked to catch or tackle him.
3) Storylines – Auburn won its last SEC contest by scoring 65 points. LSU did so by converting a fake field goal on a bounced lateral. Experts and hooligans alike swear LSU’s luck won’t last, and head coach Les Miles’s seat is searing, despite a national championship on his resume and this season’s undefeated start under his belt. The only hotter seat in Baton Rouge may be the one under the LSU quarterbacks. The combo of juniors Jordan Jefferson and Jarrett Lee has combined to rank LSU exactly 113th in the NCAA in passing. Somehow, through it all, the Tigers are 7-0. If they get it to 8-0, on the road against No. 4 Auburn, there will likely be more Miles magic at work.
4) Star matchups – If there’s a comparable talent to Newton in the conference, it’s LSU’s All-American safety Patrick Peterson. He announced his own 2010 Heisman campaign with this touchdown return + celebration against West Virginia in September. He’s the leader of the nation’s No. 3 total defense, and a threat to score anytime he’s on the field. He’s arguably the biggest scoring threat on his own team. LSU’s offense is partly that bad, but Peterson is dynamic. It’s our good fortune that he and Newton will share the same field on Saturday.
5) Intangibles – These were the top two programs in the SEC West for much of the last decade. Their meetings are typically close, low-scoring, and full of wood-bringings. (The 2006 game that No.4 Auburn won 7-3 over LaRon Landry’s No.7 LSU squad still ranks as one of the most physical football games this writer has ever seen). LSU has won three straight in the series, so tack an old fashioned Southern grudge match onto all the other implications and emotions surrounding this game. Jordan-Hare Stadium figures to be awful loud come kickoff.
Bonus Block Prediction: LSU might be the luckiest undefeated team in the nation, but they’re undefeated for a reason: defense. The defensive line is overhwhelming and they have playmakers all over the secondary. That will be enough to keep LSU close — and contribute to another classic SEC slugfest — but simply too much Cam Newton for Auburn in the end.
Auburn 17 LSU 13.
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