There’s no discussion when it comes to the worst loss experienced by Auburn during the regular season in 2017 — it’s the LSU game by a mile. The Tigers hit the road for Death Valley and were up 20 in a hostile environment only to let the lead slip away in a 27-23 loss.
The outcome appeared to single the end of what was a promising season for Auburn but according to Jarrett Stidham, the loss was the spark that ignited the Tigers’ run to the SEC Championship Game last season.
During his Tuesday afternoon press availability, Stidham was asked about last season’s tough loss to LSU and his main takeaway from the defeat was rather positive.
“The thing I take away from it, if we would have won that game, I don’t think we would have gone on to the SEC Championship, to be honest,” Stidham responded. “We learned a lot about ourselves in that game. Like I said, I don’t think the season would have played out the way it did, unless we lost that game — I try to find the positivity behind it.”
Fast forward to this season and this weekend’s showdown is between two undefeated SEC West opponents eager to win their first conference matchup. The winner will take a step toward at Atlanta, while the loser will have to find a way to get to the conference championship by starting in a hole. For Auburn to win, the Stidham and his offense will have to ensure LSU’s standout linebacker Devin White doesn’t steal the game this year.
Here’s Stidham when asked about the matchup of facing LSU’s outstanding linebacker.
“I love it, personally. Obviously, Devin is an extremely great football player,” Stidham said. “Probably one of the better ones we will see all year. When you start to talk about chess match, that’s what I love about football. It just comes down to little details and when you are playing a great defense like LSU, led by a great player like Devin White, you have to be on top of your A-game. I’m sure I’ll make checks, they’ll make checks and it’s going to be a lot of fun, I think.”
Fortunately for LSU, White won’t be alone in his attempts to halt Auburn’s offense. The Tigers feature a pass rush that rivals nearly any other program in the nation as Dave Aranda’s unit is tied for the SEC lead with nine sacks in two games.
“I think LSU, they have some of the best pass rushing defenses in college football every single year in college football,” Stidham responded when asked about LSU’s pass rush. “Obviously, they are going to be good up front, that front seven is going to be extremely good, just like every year. So we’ll have a great plan for protections, blitzes and all that kind of stuff. I’m looking forward to getting a little bit deeper into all of that the rest of the week and seeing how we can handle it on Saturday.”
On the back end of the defense, LSU features one of the nation’s best corners in Greedy Williams. The Auburn quarterback was asked about throwing at Williams and acknowledged he enjoys going up against elite players when he has that opportunity.
“I like going up against good players, whether it’s Devin White or Greedy Williams, whoever it is. Last year against Roquan Smith or Minkah (Fitzpatrick), I like that challenge. I think from a defensive perspective, I know our guys like going up against good guys on offense, it ups their game a little bit. It takes it to another level. So I really look forward to the challenge once we start to get into the gameplan I’ll know a little bit more of what we are going to do but it’s a great challenge.”
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
