Behind enemy bylines: LSU

Before Auburn takes on LSU on Saturday, The Auburn Plainsman's sports editor, Jacob Waters, sat down with the Reveille's sports editor, Peter Rauterkus, to ask some questions about this weekend's contest.

Waters: What were some takeaways from LSU's win last week against Missouri?

Rauterkus: The biggest thing in my takeaway's article, kind of the number one thing, was that Jayden Daniels, not only is he good, but his toughness is also probably the most underrated aspect. Suffered the rib injury in the second half, came back in the game. Next drive he was back in, ran for that 35-yard touchdown. Led another what ended up being the game-winning drive, his next drive. Every week he continues to impress. This week it was showing that even while hurt, he can still lead LSU, go on those crucial drives, make the throws, run the ball extremely well. And then on the other side, the defense is still not good. There's no toys around it. They gave up over 500 yards, but they made a couple plays on Saturday. That's what they need to be, just serviceable. Because the offense is so good, the defense doesn't need to be good. It just needs to be not horrendous, but they had two interceptions. They had the pick six at the end. They had a huge sack fumble in the fourth quarter as well, where they didn't recover it, but it caused fourth-and-2 and effectively ended the drive. So, if the defense is going to be bad, they need at least be opportunistic. And if they can do that, that can help them win. Turn games that are 55-49 loss to a win because they can at least get the one or two stops that the offense needs."

Waters: Two losses on the schedule already, was that something that LSU fans were afraid would happen? Was the even a though in LSU fans' minds?

Rauterkus: "Obviously playing in the SEC, SEC West, it's always gonna be a tough schedule. I don't think anyone expected LSU to have two losses, especially not by the end of September. But you know, Florida State is a top-five team, and I think a lot of people kind of underestimated just how good that team was going into that game and just flat out got outplayed by Florida State in that first game, wasn't particularly close. Then Ole Miss, once again not a game that I don't think anyone really expected to lose. But still, really good team on the road too, and when you have a defense as bad as LSU's and you play against any offense led by Lane Kiffin, he's going to take advantage of that. And that's what Ole Miss did. LSU gave up 55 points, 700 yards, which was an LSU school record for most yards allowed in a game. So, I don't know that this was something that people were really expecting, but when you look at LSU's schedule in any given year, you know that there's potential losses sprinkled in, in all portions of the schedule. When I did my record prediction at the beginning of the year, I kind of leaned toward 11-1, 10-2, 11-1 is what I put in our article. And I said '11-1, they lose to either FSU or Alabama.' So when they lost FSU, I wasn't shocked. But when they lost again before they got to the Bama game, that's when I was a little a little more surprised, even though I knew I always knew they game could've went either way."

Waters: "What's been the issue for LSU's defense this year?"

Rauterkus: "Starting at the secondary, that's still I would say the biggest issue, especially tackling in the secondary. If I had to really point to one thing that's been the biggest root of LSU's issue it's tackling, especially against Ole Miss. Ole Miss getting big play after big play where it's not like they're taking a whole bunch of shots down the field and just going over the top of the LSU defense, it's they might throw a screen pass or a 10-yard out or slant that turns into a 30 or 40-yard play because LSU can't tackle them on the first attempt. Or, what shouldn't be just a 5-yard run turns into 20 or 30-yard run because you're missing a tackle in the secondary, missing a tackle at the linebacker position. So, I will say that's the biggest thing. The secondary also just in coverage is just not very good. They're not very talented this year. It's a group that lost, corners wise, lost everybody from last year. And it's kind of been a revolving door at that position to start the season with Zy Alexander, Sage Ryan were the two who played most of the snaps last week, and Zy Alexander has been the most consistent at that position, a transfer from Southeastern Louisiana. But that's the issue right there is that your best guy is a transfer from Southeastern Louisiana. Usually when you look at LSU you see a Derek Stingley, you see a Patrick Peterson, you see NFL talent at that position, and this year, you just don't have that. You've got a lot of young guys, pretty much everybody's new, at the safety position as well. You've got some coming back, like Major Burns, he was there last year, but he hasn't been greatest for the season. Andre' Sam is in, I think his sixth or seventh year playing college football, but he'd spent most of that time but McNeese [State] and Marshall before this, so once again, just hadn't been at that level. And then obviously, just in a really serious and awful situation in just a life regard but just looking at from a purely football point of view, Greg Brooks, that was probably your best guy in the secondary. Obviously what's going on with him has been one of the stories the season, but just another instance where you just don't have experience back there. Then up in the front seven, that's where you've got more of your talent. Obviously, you've got Harold Perkins, who probably is pound-for-pound the best player on your team. He had one of the two interceptions from the linebacker position on Saturday. The defensive line on paper is really good. They struggled a lot against Ole Miss. They were a little better against Missouri, and they just brought in Pete Jenkins to kind of help coach that defensive line during the middle of the season. So, that's the one unit that I do have some hope can get a little bit better. The defensive backfield I think, tackling can be improved, and I think they just have to improve that."

Waters: Who are a couple offensive players Auburn fans should look out for?

Rauterkus: Obviously, Jayden Daniels he's the quarterback. He's playing as well as anybody in the country right now. Obviously, I saw Hugh Freeze had really high praise for him the other day. Hurt you with his arm, hurts with his legs. I think he's third in the country in passing yards, I'm sure he's up there. I'm not sure where he ranks, in the most quarterbacks with rushing yards but also I would assume ranks very highly. Logan Diggs at running back... I don't know if surprised is the right word. I think people knew, transfer from Notre Dame that he was going to be a solid player. He had over 800 yards rushing at Notre Dame last year, but he's really been the answer LSU needed at that position. One of the biggest questions on offense going into the season, there weren't very many, was who's going to really step up and be the guy and get most of the carries at running back, and it's been Logan Diggs. He missed the first game of the season, but is still, I want to say, in the top three in the SEC in rushing yards. Had 134 yards on 24 carries against Missouri. He's doesn't have great top-end speed. You're not going to see him break off a 50-yard run. He'll probably get chased down when he gets to about 30, but he always falls forward. He can always consistently get you four to six yards every time and really good vision, can catch the ball out of the backfield, can pass block, just a really good all-around back. And then at receiver, Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas. Those are really the two biggest targets for Jayden Daniels. Malik Nabers will probably be one of the first five receivers taken in the draft, really, really good player. Kind of the smaller, faster archetype. Not small but about 6 foot, 6-1, 200 pounds. He's kind of can do it all. He's really strong, make those contested catches in the short, intermediate passing game but can also can also be a deep threat, take the top off the defense. And then Brian Thomas, bigger guy. About 6-4, really good red zone threat, leads the country in receiving touchdowns just because I mean the slot fade, the goal line fade to him has been almost unstoppable. That's been one of the staples of this LSU offense with Jayden Daniels. He's just been so effective in winning one-on-ones in the red zone."

Waters: Who are a couple defensive players Auburn fans should look out for?

Rauterkus: "Harold Perkins, the biggest one, just a guy that can cause havoc in a lot of different ways. LSU has kind of messed around a little bit with trying to find what position makes the most sense for him. They started the season with him at middle linebacker against Florida State which just didn't really work. He's really, in my opinion, just too small to play that position, as well as be just a traditional defensive end. He's only about 210, 220 pounds, but he can still be a really disruptive force coming off the edge. I mean, that's how he kind of made his name last year as a pass rusher. Had I think 7½  half sacks, had the game against Arkansas where he had like three or four sacks and two forced fumbles, but now they're kind of playing him in that nickel sam role, where he's kind of able to do it all. Sometimes you'll see him blitzing, sometimes you'll see him playing in coverage. He just does a little bit of everything, and I think that's kind of where they want to put him in a position to where he can affect the game multiple ways. Outside of him, on the defensive line, Mekhi Wingo is probably their most consistent player in the run as well, just a good, polished all-around defensive lineman, but other than that, there's not a whole lot of positives I can say about the LSU defense, but those two guys I would say, are the most dangerous, most talented right now."

Waters: Your prediction for the game?

Rauterkus: "It's tough to think about a score prediction, a game like this. We joked about this when LSU played Arkansas a few weeks ago, it's the same thing with Auburn. When LSU plays Auburn, it doesn't matter how good the two teams are, the game's always gonna be weird. Auburn is, obviously in kind of a big period of change right now. First year of the Hugh Freeze era, they're still kind of figuring themselves out and there's still flaws on that team, but you could also look at this Auburn team who got really close to beating the No. 1 team in the country just a couple weeks ago. It feels like a good matchup for LSU because LSU's biggest weaknesses is the defense, and Auburn's offense is not, especially in the passing game where LSU has a weak secondary, Auburn's not quite there yet. But, Hugh Freeze is a really good offensive coach, and I think he's going to find ways to move the ball and score points against this LSU defense, so I think it's going to be close. I think the spread is like 11, I think Auburn will end up covering that, but I think especially because this game is in Tiger Stadium, I think LSU is still going to win. In terms of a score, I think it'll be a little less high scoring just because Auburn's a running team. We're going to see a lot more clock get used, but I still think they're gonna score a good bit of points, so I'm going to say LSU 34, Auburn 27."