*** Auburn +6 vs LSU to fly into LSU same day

[Woodson]

Auburn will fly to Baton Rouge on Saturday afternoon

AUBURN - The trip that could determine the course of Auburn's football season will also be the season's shortest.

When No. 15 Auburn (5-1 overall, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) and No. 7 LSU (4-1, 3-1) meet at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge on Saturday night, championship aspirations could be at stake. But the Tigers won't be in town for long.

Assistant athletic director Buddy Davidson, who handles the football team's travel arrangements, got the call last week that the hotel where the team had reservations would not be available. There were few options. Instead of its normal routine of arriving in town the day before a game, the Auburn team will fly in on its charter Saturday afternoon and leave immediately after the game.

Auburn's hotel rooms are occupied by evacuees and government relief workers in town in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

When Florida played at LSU last Saturday afternoon, some players stayed in Lafayette and some in Baton Rouge. When Tennessee played a night game at LSU on Sept. 26, the Vols flew into town in the morning.

Auburn's trip, coach Tommy Tuberville said, will be more compressed. The Tigers will spend Friday night at a hotel, fly out of Montgomery on Saturday afternoon and bus from the airport to the stadium.

"We'll go to the stadium, play the game and come home," Tuberville said.

Tuberville said the routine would be much like that for home games, when the team stays in LaGrange, Ga., and arrives by bus at the stadium two hours before gametime. Instead of a bus, the team will board a Delta charter.

 

[guymo]

I am hesitant on this game, b/c Auburn has flown under the radar thusfar... (no pun intended)

 

[AU999]

This game is a must win for both teams. Over the past couple of years this game pretty much decides who will play in the SECCG, although this year is quite different since Bama has gotten off to a decent start. It's always tough in Baton Rouge under the lights but if Tennessee can come from behind with an inept offense and win, I think Auburn can definitely win this game. LSU's gameplan will most likely be to pressure Cox and make him "force" the ball. Arkansas did it by blitzing every down and it worked for 2 quarter's, however Auburn's O-Line decided they felt like actually playing some hard-nosed ball, resulting in Auburn running all over their 8 man front. I still believe OC Al Borges has yet to open up his playbook. Auburn has been pretty vanilla on offense this year, much like last year when they didn't open it up till midseason. Another upside to this game is LSU's ability to turn the ball over. This show's me how terrible UF actually is to force 5 turnovers and still lose the game. If Auburn get's a couple turnovers, I expect them to capitalize. LSU also has a lackluster pass defense, and as long has Cox makes smart decisions he should be able to carve them up. The only problem is LSU's rush defense which as been great this year, even though they have not played a great rushing team, much like Auburn has not played a team with the size and speed as LSU. I expect Auburn to mix it up in this game by running up the gut, quick slants, and a deep ball or two to keep LSU on it's toes.

 

[INtheBLUE]

Like the 43.5 Under

 

[Cie]

LSU also has a lackluster pass defense, and as long has Cox makes smart decisions he should be able to carve them up.

AU99--

Thanks for your input. It would appear that you know what you are talking about, at least when it comes to Auburn. No offense, but I feel that many an Auburn backer, yourself included, are in for a surprise this weekend. You may want to ask Chris Leak if LSU's pass D is "lackluster". Auburn has played no one since getting punched in the mouth by GT week 1.

Take away ASU's 460 yards passing, yes 460 yds passing, in the days following the natural disaster, and the LSU D is allowing less than 160 yards/g through the air. Senior CB Ronnie Prude has stepped it up and both LSU safeties are playing great football. The DL has turned it up a notch and are creating havoc for some of the better QBs in the SEC. LSU just held Florida to 100 passing yards on 30% completions. Again, these numbers do not indicate a lackluster pass defense.

GL this weekend:weed:

 

[bassmaster007]

coach meyer said it best" we have been exposed"! to compare fla with anybody in the sec on the road is bad compairision.tennesse looked like the better team before qb change then proved it.lsu doesnt have a great secondary,qb isnt even good.death valley overrated. auburns defence is better than tennesses and has a better ol im takin tigers on the moneyline good luck

 

[Woodson]

Game notes:

Game notes:

Auburn Notes:* Auburn has won 10 of its last 14 games against teams ranked in the Associated Press top 10. The Tigers were 4-0 last season against top 10 teams.

* Auburn has won 20 of its last 21 games dating back to the 2003 season. It is the third-best 21-game stretch in school history (20-0-1 in 1956-58 and 1993-94).

* Auburn's defense ranks third nationally in scoring defense (10.7), sixth in total defense (267.2) and seventh in pass defense (152.8). The Tigers have outscored their last five opponents 114-10 in the first half.

* Auburn has been superb at making halftime adjustments, particularly defensively, as the Tigers have outscored their opponents 51-3 in the third quarter this season.

* Auburn has converted an SEC-best 28-of-30 scoring chances in the red zone this season (93.3 percent), including 22 touchdowns. The Tigers have allowed just four touchdowns in 13 opponents' red zone possessions.

* Auburn has three career 1,000-yard receivers on its team for the first time in school history. Courtney Taylor (1,243 yards), Ben Obomanu (1,185) and Devin Aromashodu (1,066) all have over 1,000 career receiving yards.

* Auburn leads the SEC in third-down conversions, successful converting 50.7 percent of its attempts.

LSU Notes

*LSU ranks third nationally in rushing defense, allowing just 69.8 yards per game ...

*Senior Joseph Addai leads the SEC and ranks 13th nationally, averaging 107.4 yards rushing per game ... Addai (127.4) and senior wideout Skyler Green (115.4) both average more than 100 all-purpose yards per game ...

*Sophomore linebacker Ali Highsmith has four sacks and leads the SEC with three forced fumbles ...

*LSU has won 11 of its last 12 home games ...

*The Tigers have played three of their five games this season against nationally-ranked teams, beating Arizona State and Florida while falling to Tennessee.

Taken from AU preview page... I'm still looking over matchup and will provide thoughts later. Death Valley at night is a hard place to put a new QB. I know Cox had a lack luster start in Arkansas the first half, mirroring offensive performace in the first half of Georgia Tech game. If he continues this trend, LSU will jump out to a quick lead and having already let Tennessee back door them, it is doubtful Auburn will be allowed to do the same.

As an Auburn grad and follower, I'm hesitant to play the +6 simply because its a road game and not in the Jungle where Cox is accustomed to play...

Look forward to thoughts on the game from everyone. Great posts guys.

 

[AU999]

Cie

I also appreciate your analysis. And you are right, I know this Auburn team just as you know LSU. Let's face it, when a Pac-10 team plays the SEC, they usually throw all over us, as did ASU against LSU. The difference is balance. I'll be the first to tell you I have been skeptical on the Auburn rushing game all year. After our first 5 games I thought it was marginal at best. Auburn has demoted the first string TB to 4th string and moved the 4th stringer entering the season to the starter for the Arky game (Brad Lester). Lester went down against the Hogs and Kenny Irons stepped up and proved to myself and others that he is our man. Auburn's O-Line also made huge strides against a very physical Arky team. The entire O-Line graded out at 97% or better. Marcus McNeill is finally showing that he deserved to be a pre-season All American and Tim Duckworth is coming into his own as well. The only question at this point is our undersized center Joe Cope. I think this game is going to be one of the best the SEC will see this year.

Items of note:

Auburn's new DC David Gibbs has been shuffling our corner's like a mad game of musical chairs. In our 6 games this year we have started 3 different corners (Pitts, Lee, and now Wilhite.) Your guess is as good as mine as to who starts this weekend. Gibbs also likes to keep the secondary fresh, he will play every DB that is on the travel roster.

Courtney Taylor, our go to WR last year has been suffering from a high ankle sprain. The coaches said last week he would be ready against Arky. He did not start but did play and had no receptions. If he is 100% this week I would expect the Auburn coaches to make him a pivotal part of Auburn's gameplan.

Can't wait till Friday when we fire up the RV to head down to Baton Rouge.

 

[GolfGuruAU]

Good analysis Woodson. I will also have a story for this game later in the week. Busy studying right now. But I do like Auburn getting 6.5. Not as much as last week but I do like it.

 

[Cie]

I looked over the physical matchups. This one does not look appealing for LSU backers:

LSU top 3 corners are listed @ 5'11-6'0 weighing 179-185.

Yahoo lists Auburn's trio of WR at 6'1-6'2 202-206 lbs.

Advantage Auburn

GL:weed:

 

[AU2001]

Cie,
Don't forget about AU's WR#9 Anthony Mix (6'5" 248 lbs). He creates match-up problems at WR for everybody.

I could write a page or more about this game, but AU999 has already said everything there is to say as far as analysis goes on this game. Auburn is a great value here on the ml+215. Auburn is getting no repect after that first loss to GT. AU really doesn't deserve any respect right now. This will be their chance to get it on a national stage!

Homer bet:
Auburn ml+215

-kai-

 

[Bama6895]

AU2001,

Every week ( I believe it is you, so sorry if it is not) you are all over AU. Just wondering if you think this could have anything to do with the fact you are an Auburn fan? IMO, it just seems very unwise to play the homer role.

Anyway, that is my 2 cents and best of luck on your plays.

 

[mw]

These are two elite SEC teams, and 6.5 is too many points. I'll take Auburn this week. Should be a great game.

 

[guymo]

I am an LSU homer...





But I can't bring myself to throw down on this one. GL with whatever you play.

 

[AU2001]

AU2001,

Every week ( I believe it is you, so sorry if it is not) you are all over AU. Just wondering if you think this could have anything to do with the fact you are an Auburn fan? IMO, it just seems very unwise to play the homer role.

Anyway, that is my 2 cents and best of luck on your plays.

You're right. I have played Auburn every week.

Auburn 2005 ATS
4-1 80% winners

Auburn 2004 ATS
8-4 66.6% winners

Very unwise to play homer role when your team is constantly undervalued each week? Only a handful of teams better ATS this season and 2004 than Auburn. Did you not know Auburn was that good against the spread? So you're telling me it's unwise to bet on a team that is over 70% cover over the past 2 years???

It is usually wrong to bet your team to cover every week, but when Auburn dropped the opener to GT, they started to be undervalued by the books, and I am riding them until I get bucked off! Good luck beating the Vols this weekend!

War Eagle!

 

[gjn23]

I'll be the first to admit that im not a big fan of the "strength" that is the sec....but since week 2, i have been cashing in on auburn this year....think i'll ride em again vs lsu

love the quote in this thread from one auburn fan:

"Auburn's O-Line also made huge strides against a very physical Arky team"

question: is that the same physical arky team that the pac-ten pussy trojans put up 70 on?

 

[wareagle]

from one auburn fan:

"Auburn's O-Line also made huge strides against a very physical Arky team"

question: is that the same physical arky team that the pac-ten pussy trojans put up 70 on?

no gjn...it was against the arky team that lost at home to vandy :mj07:

 

[bamafan]

I agree AU may be an undervalued team, but this team doesn't have Cadillac, Ronnie and Campbell this year (they are just not that strong IMO.) LSU (minus second half of UT game) has played pretty well thus far at home (last week being their first "normal" home game due to Katrina.) I don't understand where you guys feel that AU is such a lock in this one (they havn't really been tested since opening weekend.) I think LSU shuts down AU offense and covers this one pretty easily. Of course this is all in my opinion and we will of course see on Sat. (barring Wilma hitting area.) GL to all

 

[GolfGuruAU]

Retarded Bammer. Wilma is not projected to be anywhere close to Louisiana this weekend. GO VOLS!!!

 

[bamafan]

It was a joke wde. I was just referring to the fact that they haven't been able to play a "normal" home game until this past weekend due to 2 other storms. But on that subject, I guess I should consult with a meteorologist (that's a weather man), such as yourself as to where the storm is going to hit before posting again.