Punt Bama Punt. Louis is Gonna Score. Nix to Sanders. The Kick Six.
These are plays any Auburn fan would recognize. Incredible endings to the late-season rivalry games with Georgia and Alabama have provided Auburn fans with unforgettable memories, but what about a mid-season rival?
In the past 10 years, the Auburn-LSU matchup has provided fans of both teams with several classic games.
Start in 2004. No. 14 Auburn is playing host to the fifth-ranked Bayou Bengals for the season's SEC opener. A 2-0 Auburn, on its way to an undefeated campaign, came out on top of a defensive battle for the ages, winning 10-9. Down 9-3 with 1:14 left, quarterback Jason Campbell hit Courtney Taylor in the back of the end zone. Kicker John Vaughn missed the following extra point, only to be given a shot at redemption on an LSU penalty. Vaughn delivered on the second try, and Auburn moved to 3-0 on the season.
The next year, Vaughn would once again be involved in a classic game, but wouldn't come through for LSU. Vaughn hit the uprights in overtime in Baton Rouge, giving LSU a three-point win. All told, Vaughn missed five field goals, including a 49-yard potential game winner in the final seconds of regulation.
In 2006, another defensive battle in Jordan- Hare came down to the last play. Up 7-3, the Auburn defense stood strong, with Eric Brock tackling LSU receiver Craig Davis just a few yards short of the goal line.
The 2007 matchup still haunts Auburn fans seven years later. It may be the most Les Miles win ever, LSU forwent a chance at a game-winning field goal and chucked one to the end zone, where Demetrius Byrd caught the Matt Flynn pass in stride, giving fifth-ranked LSU a 30-24 lead with just one second to go.
LSU would win again in 2008, its first win in Jordan-Hare in 10 years. Coming into the game, Auburn was ranked 10th with LSU sitting at No. 6. With 1:08 to go, Jarrett Lee hit Brandon Lafell on an 18-yard touchdown pass to give LSU the 26-21 victory.
Gene Chizik's first matchup with LSU in 2009 wasn't close, with No. 9 LSU handing unranked Auburn a 31-10 loss.
However, 2010 was a different story. LSU was No. 6, Auburn No. 4. Considered by many to be the game where quarterback Cam Newton locked up the Heisman Trophy, Auburn won a hard-fought game. The winning touchdown came on a 70-yard run from Onterio McCalebb with 5:05 to go. The play of the game, though, was Newton's 49-yard touchdown scramble, breaking tackles from almost every LSU defender.
The 2011 game wasn't close. LSU was the No. 1 team in the country and blew out No. 19 Auburn 45-10.
In 2012, in the midst in one of the worst seasons in Auburn football history, Auburn played just about their only impressive game of the year, but still came out on the wrong end of a 12-10 loss to the country's second-ranked team.
A year later, in Death Valley, Auburn was still searching for an identity, and started slow.
Down 21-0 at half, Auburn stormed back, but it was too little, too late, and LSU won 35-21, giving Gus Malzahn's team their only regular season loss of the year.
There have been some great games in the rivalry, and Saturday shouldn't be any different. LSU comes into Jordan-Hare ranked at 16, while Auburn sits at No. 5. In the past 10 years, the home team has lost only twice: Auburn in 2008, and again in 2012.
These games have undoubtedly thrown fuel on the fire that is this rivalry, but Auburn definitely has been on the wrong end of the games in the last decade. LSU has won seven of those last 10 games, some in heartbreaking fashion, and some by way of an embarrassing blowout.
With those defeats in mind, especially 2013's, Auburn will no doubt have vengeance on its mind Saturday in Jordan-Hare.
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