Can defense slow down LSU’s offense?

[aubiefifty 18,222]

Can Auburn slow down LSU’s ‘video game’ offense?

Updated 10:24 AM; Today 10:16 AM

6-8 minutes

Auburn Football

 

Jeremiah Dinson hasn’t bothered to turn on the film of last year’s loss to LSU.

It’s not that the last-second 22-21 loss at Jordan-Hare Stadium 13 months ago was too difficult to re-watch or still fresh in Dinson’s mind, it’s that this iteration of LSU looks vastly different from the one Auburn lost to last season. Namely, LSU’s offense has been overhauled and completely reimagined since the two SEC West rivals last met.

“They’re a totally different group,” Dinson said. “… I look at (Joe Burrow) this year, and he’s a totally different quarterback. Totally different. He looks poised. He’s smart. He always could throw the ball; I knew he could always throw the ball, but it’s crazy, man, that they look like a totally different offense. That offense that they got, the kind of spread offense, four-wide, five-wide type of offense, and you know, he’s doing a really good job in their offense.”

That’s putting it lightly, of course.

LSU’s offense has been day and night from those of years past, as the team has adapted to its personnel and introduced a spread scheme heavy on RPO concepts. The results have been the nation’s No. 2 scoring offense (50.1 points per game) and passing attack (385.7 yards per game) as LSU has gotten off to a 7-0 start and a No. 2 ranking in the AP poll ahead of Saturday’s top-10 matchup with No. 9 Auburn (2:30 p.m. on CBS).

“You look at LSU offensively, and it looks like a video game when you watch them on film,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said.

Burrow has been the biggest beneficiary of that retooled system. The LSU quarterback who was pedestrian during last year’s meeting with Auburn — when he completed 15-of-35 passes for 249 yards and a touchdown — has been otherworldly this year. He has completed 173-of-218 passes (79.4 percent) for 2,484 yards, 29 touchdowns and just three interceptions while emerging as the frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy.

Burrow’s 29 touchdown passes are tied for most in the nation, while his 11.4 yards per attempt are second-most among FBS passers, behind only Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts (13.5). Paired with a wide receiver corps featuring the likes of Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase, with red-zone threat Terrace Marshall also expected back from a broken foot this weekend, LSU’s passing attack has thrived on intermediate passes and deep shots downfield.

Burrow has completed 62-of-80 passes thrown more than 10 yards downfield, resulting in 1,491 yards and 20 touchdowns, according to SECStatCat.com. Those numbers are all tops in the SEC.

“They throw it down the field and, matter of fact, when they throw it down the field, they’re pretty accurate,” Malzahn said. “They’re not just taking shots. They usually make you pay when they throw it down field.”

That’s the challenge for Auburn’s defense this weekend: Try to do what no other team has really been able to do this season and try to contain LSU’s suddenly high-powered offense.

“It’s nothing new to us,” Dinson said. “We’ve seen it. But we have to prepare. It starts with preparation this week and we’ll just take this week and just treat every day as our last, and you know, just, whatever the goals and things that we have for each other, man, we’ve just got to keep talking amongst each other and tell each other that we have each other this week.

“But, man, that offense is, like I said before, they’re a really good offense and you know I can’t wait to compete against them.”

Auburn’s defense ranks ninth in the SEC and 68th nationally while allowing 224.7 passing yards per game, though the team’s passing efficiency defense has been better than that, checking in at 29th nationally while holding opponents to a 116.4 passer efficiency rating. The Tigers have also done well in limiting teams to 6 yards per pass attempt, which ranks 17th among FBS teams, despite giving up a handful of big-yardage plays; Auburn is 79th nationally in 40-yard pass plays allowed with six on the year.

It has yet to face an offense quite like LSU’s, which will be the best Auburn has faced all season.

“You've got to play sound coverage,” Malzahn said. “That's the main thing. (Burrow)'s very accurate, and his timing with his receivers is really impressive to watch. We just need to try to keep him off-balance and get him uncomfortable. He's been comfortable so far. When he's comfortable, it's really something to watch. So, we've got to find a way to make him uncomfortable. And our defensive backs, we've got to play sound coverage.”

Auburn knows its secondary will have to rise to the occasion in Death Valley if it hopes to snap the program’s 20-year drought in Baton Rouge, La. It will have help from a vaunted defensive line that should prove to be Auburn’s biggest advantage against LSU, but Kevin Steele’s unit will need to not only keep the top on the defense but do what it can to try to force Burrow into making mistakes.

Auburn is tied for 99th nationally with just three interceptions on the year, though it had two last weekend against Arkansas — one of which came on a fake punt by the Razorbacks. Auburn hopes it can continue to improve on that number moving forward, even if Burrow has limited his errors through the air this year.

If Auburn can do what seven teams have already tried and failed to do, its chances of upsetting LSU greatly increase. It’s a tall order, but a challenge the defense welcomes as it heads into the most difficult stretch of the season.

“You got to tell the guys, you know, the ball is going to get put in the air this weekend,” Dinson said. “There’s no question about it. You’ve got to tell them to compete. But that’s why we came to Auburn. We came to Auburn for these types of games. It is what it is. Burrow is going to put the ball in the air on Saturday. That’s what it is on Saturday. My guys and myself, when the opportunity comes, you just got to take advantage of that opportunity and make plays.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

 

this appears to be the same article i posted about auburns turn to face burrows,etc, but it is not for the record.

[AuburnEagle79 2,188]

I have no reason to believe that they will score any less than 30. They'll do the same to every team they play this year. We just need to make a few more stops than they do.