To find a stretch of games in the LSU vs. Auburn football series with Auburn winning at least three in a row vs. the Bayou Bengals you have to look back beyond the turn of the century.
The last time it happened began in 1989 when Coach Pat Dye’s SEC champions started a streak that continued with wins in 1992, Dye’s final season, and extended to 1993 and 1994 with Coach Terry Bowden leading the program.
With Auburn dominating LSU in 2020 at Jordan-Hare Stadium and rallying in the fourth quarter at Baton Rouge last October to win a 24-19 thriller, Coach Bryan Harsin’s 2022 squad can make it three straight Auburn wins vs. the Bayou Bengals. However, his team will have to play its best game so far this season to make it happen.
LSU was sloppy in an opening night 24-23 loss to FSU, but since then the talent and improved organization has kicked in for new head coach Brian Kelly, and his team has out-scored its last three opponents 134-33.
For this year’s match-up, the home team will have to pull off a significant upset as the underdog on Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium, which makes sense considering how much trouble Auburn has had moving the football and scoring.Â
Harsin’s team is averaging just 347.3 yards and 23.8 points per game. Both of those numbers need to improve in October. If they don’t, the losses are likely to mount for the Tigers, who have been decent on defense, but not the type of unit that places them among the top groups in the SEC.
Of particular concern is the offensive line play as Auburn struggles to run the football. After not getting the job done on the ground vs. Penn State, the Tigers regressed vs. Missouri, netting a paltry 82 yards at 1.8 yards per carry.Â
• Local high school football fans will be treated to what should be an intense rivalry game when Auburn High plays host to Opelika on Friday night at Duck Samford Stadium. AHS is undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the state. Opelika, which bumped back up to Class 7A this year, is 4-2 and that includes a victory over previous No. 1 ranked Central of Phenix City.
Both teams are led by outstanding head coaches — Keith Etheredge at AHS and Erik Speakman at OHS. That shows with how the Tigers and Bulldogs are performing.
• The Auburn University volleyball team’s rebuilding project is going nicely with Coach Brent Crouch’s Tigers winning their first 13 matches to equal the 2021 squad’s total for the whole season. A strong freshman group is leading the charge for the Tigers, who opened league play last weekend with back-to-back 3-1 victories over Alabama.
• Coach Bruce Pearl’s basketball team has switched from its limited summer practice schedule into full-time preparations for the 2022-23 schedule. The defending SEC champs will open the regular season with a home contest November 7th vs. George Mason. Five days earlier Auburn will play an exhibition game vs. UAH at Neville Arena.
Mark Murphy is the editor of Inside the Auburn Tigers magazine and newsletter.Â
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