LSU Football: 3 takeaways from ugly beatdown by Auburn in Week 9

Auburn and LSU football met for the 55th time on Saturday afternoon. Here, you will find three takeaways from the beatdown by Auburn.

For the first time since 1999, neither the LSU Tigers nor the Auburn Tigers are entering this game as a nationally ranked team. This game is commonly referred to as “The Tiger Bowl”.

The rivalry dates back to 1901, but they have both been part of the SEC since 1932, and have played each other every year since 1992 when the SEC started divisional play. Including Saturday’s matchup, the two teams have met 55 total times and LSU leads the all-time series 31-22-1. LSU also holds the longest win streak of six years from 1926-1937 and currently holds a three-game winning streak.

LSU came into this week with two wins and two losses, while Auburn was 3-2 on the season. LSU had an inadvertent bye week earlier in the season due to the coronavirus, and haven’t yet made up that game. They handed South Carolina a resounding 52-24 loss in Death Valley last week.

Auburn was defeated by South Carolina two weeks ago but beat Ole Miss last week, 35-28.

Let’s get to the takeaways from this matchup.

3. LSU’s defense didn’t show up

At first, it seemed as if LSU would be able to keep Auburn at bay offensively as they forced punts in the first two drives and then caused a turnover after a fumble in the third drive.

The Tigers allowed Auburn to reach the end zone in the next drive, putting up the first touchdown of the game.

Auburn put up another touchdown two drives later when TJ Finley fumbled the ball and Christian Tutt recovered it taking for a 20-yard return touchdown. Of the seven times, Auburn had possession of the ball during the first half, LSU allowed the Tigers to reach the end zone three times.

LSU didn’t come back from halftime with any more steam from their defensive line. In Auburn’s first three possessions of the third quarter, they put a touchdown up each time, and in Auburn’s first drive of the fourth quarter, they put another touchdown on the board. Bo Nix connected with Anthony Schwartz who took it to the house with a 91-yard touchdown.

The score was 48-3 with almost the whole fourth quarter left to play.