Arguably the best college football game played this weekend was the #9 LSU at #6 Auburn game. Although possibly the best college football game of the weekend, for me it was a disappointment with LSU winning 22-21. Often the outcome of the LSU-Auburn game comes down to the last few seconds of the game. This was no exception with LSU winning on a game ending field goal.
Auburns's loss came as a result of execution on the field. For the entire game Auburn had three offensives drives in which they looked like one of the best teams in the country. Three drives that resulted in their 21 points.
The easiest way to win a football game is for your offense to maintain control of the football. If your opponent doesn't have the football, it makes it a lot harder for them to score. LSU won this aspect of the game. During the game Auburn only had one drive that took more than 3 minutes off the game clock while LSU had five. Not controlling the football makes winning a difficult challenge.
Another aspect of the game that Auburn lost was turnovers and penalties. Auburn had two interceptions during the game. Auburn's first series of the game ended with an interception on the Auburn 34 yard line giving LSU a short field to score. Nine plays later LSU scored a touchdown. Auburn also had 4 automatic first down penalties during the game, two of which were on the last drive of the game. The first of these penalties on the final drive came with LSU on their own 23 when Auburn commits a pass interference on a third and eleven play. Without this penalty LSU would probably have punted, but instead went on to take the final 5:38 off the clock and win the game.
Auburn is touted as having one of the best defensive lines in the country with several of the players expected to be drafted into the NFL after the season is over. Defending the run Auburn's defensive line lived up to expectations holding LSU to 2.9 yards per carry. The let down came on rushing the passer. Auburn was only able to sack LSU's Joe Burrow once during the game. For the most part, Burrow was given plenty of time to pick and choose which receiver he wanted to throw to. Burrow completed 15 of 34 passes for 259 yards and one touchdown. The Auburn defense will face better quarterbacks than Burrow during the rest of the season. Without improvement in the pass rush, it's not going to be pleasant.
The result of the game has been for Auburn and LSU to trade places in the rankings, #9 Auburn and #6 LSU. LSU also upset Auburn last year in what appears to have been a wake up call for Auburn. After the loss to LSU last year Auburn went on to close out the regular season with five consecutive wins, including wins over both Alabama and Georgia that played in the national championship game last year. We Auburn fans can only hope this years loss to LSU results in a louder wake up call than last year.