Ahead of No. 7 Auburn's SEC opener against No. 12 LSU, The Plainsman posed questions for Brandon Adam, football writer for The Daily Reveille. Here's how he sees the action playing out Saturday inside Jordan-Hare Stadium.
- Gus Malzahn and company seem very concerned about Joe Burrow's "smarts" at the line of scrimmage. Is he good enough to win his first SEC game on the road?
Burrow is great at making reads and checks. It’s impossible for me to know for certain, but it seems like he has made the correct read and the correct check at the line of scrimmage almost every time. The best example is the Miami game during Brossette long touchdown run. In the past, maybe the LSU quarterback isn’t confident enough in what he’s seeing or wasn’t the granted the ability to change the play. Ed Orgeron even said going forward Burrow will be granted more autonomy over the offense. Burrow is more than good enough to win on the road in the SEC, the only questions are if the offensive line will give him enough time and if the receivers can get open.
- Nick Brossette has been waiting for this opportunity. What does LSU's RB1 do best?
He’s tough. Brossette runs hard and has good vision. He doesn’t do anything exceptional, but he does everything well.
- What's the general vibe about this LSU team from the faithful in Baton Rouge?
Most fans are reactionary. Then, you have LSU fans, some of the most over-reactionary, illogical fans in the country. Obviously, they’re excited for the season, but if something goes a little bit wrong all hell breaks loose.
- We've heard a lot about the offensive line shuffling. How will they handle a vicious Auburn front seven?
It’s not the outside of LSU’s offensive line that worries me. They’ll be starting sophomores at both tackle spots — Saahdiq Charles is a second-year starter at left tackle and Austin Deculus started in Charles place last week but is moving to the right side this week. They’ll be sound there. It’s the interior of Garrett Brumfield, Lloyd Cushenberry and Damien Lewis blocking the two interior linemen for Auburn. Orgeron went even as far to compare Derrick Brown to Reggie White on Monday.
- What are the keys to victory for the Bayou Bengals?
I’ll give three keys: Block, attack the Auburn secondary downfield like Washington did and do it effectively, and lastly, no big plays. LSU can’t afford to get into a hole early against Auburn.
- Score prediction?
I expect this to be more similar to the mid-2000 matchups between the two teams. Tough, physical and absolutely wild. However, I’m just not sure if LSU has gelled enough on offense to go on the road and win against a top-10 team. Before the season I had Auburn winning this one big, but after two games I expect Auburn to get out of Jordan-Hare with a 17-13 win. I’m not infallible and I’ve been wrong before, but this should be a good football team from two of the SEC’s top teams.
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Nathan King, senior in journalism with a minor in business, is The Plainsman's sports editor.
