Auburn-LSU pits two Top 10 teams in pivotal SEC game

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Posted 6:20PM on Friday, September 15, 2006

AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville spent much of the week putting the LSU game in perspective. A loss Saturday doesn't kill the season, he said. A win guarantees nothing more than a head start in the division race. But Tuberville gathered his players together following last Sunday's practice and delivered a more dramatic message, according to quarterback Brandon Cox. ``He said, 'Six days from now we're going to play a game that everybody will remember for the rest of their lives. This is why you come here. This is what you train for all summer, these type games,''' Cox said. This type game doesn't happen often on the Plains. No. 3 Auburn (2-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) and No. 6 LSU (2-0, 0-0) meet in a burgeoning rivalry that typically has much to say about which Western Division team makes it to the league championship game. The winner has done just that in five of the past six seasons. ``Whoever loses will be chasing the other for the rest of the year,'' Tuberville said. But, he added, ``Whoever loses still has an excellent opportunity to still be in this thing.'' Remaining in the national championship picture is a different story. This is the first time in 34 years both teams have entered this game with Top 10 rankings. It doesn't exactly need that added flavor judging by recent history. The past two meetings have been decided by a combined four points, with kicking woes a factor both games. An early missed extra point hurt LSU two years ago, and Auburn's John Vaughn now enjoying the hottest stretch of his career missed 5-of-6 field goal attempts in last season's overtime loss. Why bother playing it cool? ``Even before the game, everybody's pretty much jacked up and there's a lot of emotion in that game,'' LSU defensive end Chase Pittman said. ``If you can't get ready to play Auburn, you don't need to be playing football at all.'' Both teams have proven pretty good at handling the big-game stress. Auburn is on a 6-1 streak against Top 10 teams going back to 2004. LSU has won its last seven games on the road. Neither team has shown any significant weaknesses in a pair of easy wins for each. They have veteran quarterbacks and tailbacks and two of the nation's top defenses. ``They have all the necessary components to be a tremendously capable football team,'' LSU coach Les Miles said of Auburn. The same can be said of his team. LSU has outscored each of its first two opponents 45-3, and quarterback JaMarcus Russell has been nearly flawless. Dwayne Bowe, the leader of a veteran receiving corps, said he doesn't see why those results should change even against an Auburn defense that's allowed only 14 points in two games. ``We feel like we're going to go out there and put up the same amount of points we did last game,'' Bowe said. ``All that's controlled by the offense, not the defense. It doesn't matter who we play SEC, Pac 10, it doesn't matter. It's what we do.'' For an Auburn defense built on speed and quickness, the key is containing the 255-pound Russell, who outweighs each of Auburn's starting linebackers by 30-plus pounds. He's got a rifle arm, too. ``Last year, sometimes we'd try to tackle him with one hand and he'd just run by it,'' cornerback David Irons said. ``He scrambles this way, he scrambles that way, and then he chucks the ball downfield and the guy will be wide open.'' LSU running backs Justin Vincent and Alley Broussard don't even have a 50-yard game yet in a backfield based on a platoon system. Russell said it's just a matter of time. ``We have guys that are capable of a lot,'' he said. ``Pretty soon they're going to have a breakout game.'' Auburn's Kenny Irons has already had one of those 183 yards against Washington State, but still short of his 218-yard game against LSU last season. He and Brad Lester are both averaging over 6 yards per carry, and receiver Courtney Taylor had one of his best career games against Mississippi State last week. But LSU hasn't allowed a touchdown in 14 quarters, dating back to last year's SEC championship game, and leads the nation in scoring defense. Both teams have said they're expecting to see plenty of blitzing from the opposing defense. Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp once held the same job at LSU, and is friends with LSU offensive chief Jimbo Fisher a former Auburn assistant. Strategies and friendships aside, Fisher isn't counting anything out in this one. ````When two good teams play, crazy things tend to happen and that's what makes a rivalry,'' he said. (Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)