Everything Orgeron said about Auburn

[aubiefifty 17,487]

It's time for Bryan Harsin's first taste of the SEC. Auburn (3-1) will head to Baton Rouge for its conference opener against LSU (3-1, 1-0 SEC) attempting to win its first game in Tiger Stadium since 1999.

LSU has won three straight, including a 28-25, SEC-opening win at Mississippi State over the weekend, since a disappointing loss at UCLA in Week 1. Ed Orgeron's team may be facing its old quarterback, T.J. Finley, as Harsin and company will work this week to decide Auburn's starting QB for Saturday, after Bo Nix was benched for Finley late in the third quarter in the win over Georgia State. Auburn went 3-1 in its nonconference slate, with its only loss coming at now-No. 4 Penn State.

Special thanks to the staff at our LSU site, Geaux247, for supplying a transcript of Orgeron's weekly press conference Monday. Here's what LSU's head coach had to say about Auburn, the matchup Saturday night (8 p.m. CST, ESPN) and welcoming Finley back to his home state.

"Onto Auburn, what a great night Saturday night. Can't wait, 8 o'clock Tiger Stadium. We've had some battles with Auburn. It's always a great game and it's going to be another great game. On offense, West Coast style. It's 21 personnel, 11 personnel, 12 personnel. Going to see two backs in the backfield, we haven't seen that in a while. Play two tight ends on the line of scrimmage so good ol' fashioned football. I don't blame them. They have two great running backs.

"Tank Bigsby and Jarquez Hunter. We recruited Tank, he runs low. He breaks tackles. Jarquez Hunter is a freshman running back averaging 10.6 yards per carry. Both quarterbacks are very capable. Bo Nix, who we know about, and TJ that came in there and what a tremendous job he did to win the game. Made some tremendous plays. As we know, TJ is a great young man, great young quarterback. He looks like he's having a lot of success there and we're happy for him.

"On defense, Auburn always has a great defensive line. They're a 4-2-5. They have seven starters returning, only giving 15 points per game, only 99 rushing per game, which is excellent, especially the teams that they've played. Roger McCreary is an experienced cornerback. T.D. Moultry is an experienced defensive end. Leads the team in sacks with 3 and Leota at defensive end, 95. They have big defensive tackles that can move. Very, very experienced defense, a tough defense to run the ball against and a lot of speed. A lot of speed on special teams. Very explosive."

"We've got to stick together. Obviously, block out the noise. We can't listen to all that. The people that control our destiny are the people in that room. We know we had to look at what we had to get fixed.

"First of all, I had to look at myself and we had to dig in. This is what we're doing well, this is what we're not doing well. We have a saying around here, 'We attack problems, not people.' Let's get to the problems, get to the solution and fix it and chip away one game at a time and a take another step. Look at the schedule one game at a time and take another step. Here's our next step this week, we've got to follow the same approach."

"Not yet. We haven't heard anything yet. He's going to see a doctor this week. He has not seen the doctor so it's still the same right now."

"First of all, T.J. came and talked to me like a man in my office. He didn't want to leave, he was crying. LSU meant a lot to him and I knew that, but it was a decision that was made that was best for him and so he left. He looks like he's doing well so we wish him the best, not obviously against us, but hey, T.J.'s always going to be a part of our family. He's from Ponchatoula, he's got a great family, so hey, after the game we're going to shake hands. ... We wish him the very best and I hope he does very well and we're going to shake his hand after the game."

"I watched a play with Tank this morning against Penn State, it seemed like he broke about six tackles coming downhill. He runs very low. I'm a big fan of Tank. I tried to recruit Tank here, love him, he came on a visit, great young man. I know his family. I think he's an excellent running back. He runs with low pad level, he runs north and south. We're going to have to tackle. We have to get lower than him. We have to gang tackle him. He poses a problem. He's a really good running back and a really good young man."

"I don't think so. Not at all. I think that you have to run the football. There are some things we can do to help our offense, but I think we need to find a way to run the football. We have some great backs. We need to find something in the run game that can give us some relief that we're not always throwing the football."

"They're running the ball downhill, they're running the ball inside and they're coming at you. They're breaking tackles. They're trying to knock people off the ball. Their defensive line is playing low, playing with great technique. They're only giving up 99 yards per game. That shows some toughness. We all know Auburn has good athletes, a lot of speed, always have great linemen and great running backs. They got them."

"Just have to have a plan. Have to see what Bo does well and what T.J. does well. I don't think the run game is going to change with either of them. I don't think the pass protection is going to change. They may move one quarterback a little bit more than the other, but I think it's more of a throwing style. Obviously, we know very well how TJ throws the ball, which is excellent. He has a cannon for an arm. We know Bo's throwing style so I think it's more or less what type of passing game they're going to have with both of those guys. I think that's the biggest difference."

">247Sports

[USATiger 741]

Orgeron presser:

 

[aubiefifty 17,487]

9 minutes ago, USATiger said:

Orgeron presser:

 

thanx man i needed the laugh.

[Randman5000 4,239]

"get out of here with your blue sissy shirt" 

Edited September 28, 2021 by Randman5000

[alexava 6,974]

9 hours ago, Randman5000 said:

"get out of here with your blue sissy shirt" 

That’s the quote of the year. I played golf with my usual bunch the next day. I just happened to wear a sissy blue shirt that day. 

[Tigerpro2a 5,650]

So...has Ed O watched our Defense this year? 

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

Feels like a good time to break out this.