Gus says LSU worthy of its No. 2ranking

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Gus Malzahn says No. 2 LSU is worthy of its ranking

Today 9:13 AM

3 minutes

Gus Malzahn hasn’t done too much research on LSU, but what he’s seen has convinced him there’s a reason the team is ranked No. 2 in the AP Poll.

Auburn did not start prepping for LSU until Sunday night. Since the loss against Florida on October 5, Malzahn has had his team focused on two things: Auburn and Arkansas. The team has a strict single-game mentality, Malzahn has repeated throughout the season.

The result of that week was Auburn’s ninth straight win out of a bye week under Malzahn, a 51-10 beating that pushed Auburn back into the top-10 of the polls.

When the team returned to Auburn, it spent Sunday reviewing its game against Arkansas before starting in on LSU prep.

Offensive lineman Jack Driscoll said they’ve only gotten through LSU’s game against Mississippi State so far, but they’ll really get serious with LSU film tomorrow.

The team doesn’t need to watch film to know they’re in for a challenge.

“LSU’s always going to have good athletes,” Driscoll said.

Having seen what they did against Mississippi State, Driscoll said they’ll have a challenge facing every part of the LSU defense — from the line to the linebackers to the secondary. LSU’s defense is ranked 24 in the nation, just one spot below Auburn. It’s giving up 226.1 passing yards per game and 93.3 rushing yards.

Safety Daniel Thomas said he knows LSU’s quarterback Joe Burrow is a great quarterback who has some weapons in his receiving corps.

Two of LSU’s receivers, Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase, are in the top 50 for most receiving yards in the nation. The team as a whole is second in the country for passing offense.

“They're a great team, so we know we have a big challenge and everyone's got to step up their level, whether it's watching extra film, extra training,” Driscoll said. “Whatever it's got to be, we need all hands on deck to beat them.”

LSU is undefeated through seven games. It beat Florida, who is the only team to beat Auburn yet this season, 42-28. The win launched it to No. 2 after weeks spent at No. 6 in the AP poll.

“They’re worthy of their ranking,” Malzahn said.

Although they know it’s going to be a test, Driscoll and Thomas weren’t worried. The game isn’t about how good LSU is. It’s about how well Auburn can execute.

“We’re just going to go in and play our brand of football, which is physicality, tackling — just have relentless effort, get to the ball and go out and execute and play our brand of ball,” Thomas said.

Besides, Thomas loves being the underdog.