When Auburn and LSU get together the one thing that can be expected is the unexpected. Crazy things tend to happen in the Tiger Bowl. From the emotional swings of a game-winning touchdown pass that wasn’t to a 3-touchdown lead that vanished, this game always provides the best in college football entertainment.

The 2018 version appears to be headed in that same direction, and should follow in the long line of hard-fought, very physical games between the two teams.

Auburn opened up as a 10-point favorite to win on Saturday. There are many reasons why. Here are but three of those to mull over as the final days of preparation are being made for the SEC opener on Saturday.

1. Home sweet home

The home team has won the past five times in this series that dates to 1901. Expanding, the home team is 8-1 in the past 9 and 15-2 in the past 17. That’s what you call home-field advantage. In addition, Auburn is 7-2 in the past 9 at Jordan-Hare Stadium. That bodes well for the No. 7 War Eagles on Saturday as No. 12 LSU tries to buck the trend.

Furthermore, Auburn is on a 13-game home win streak, the fourth-longest active home win streak in the FBS and seventh-longest in program history (longest is 30, set in 1952-60). The streak began with a 2016 victory over LSU. During the streak, Auburn has outscored opponents by an average of 30.5 points per game and includes wins over five ranked teams. The Gus Malzahn era began with 13 consecutive home wins, part of a 14-game home win streak that went through the end of the 2012 season.

2. Jarrett Stidham

The Auburn quarterback is among the best in the nation in a game highly dependent upon that position. This is where Auburn has the clear advantage over LSU and Ohio State transfer Joe Burrow. With a year under his belt, Stidham is already showing that last season, his first as a transfer to Auburn, was no fluke. His 72 percent completion average (26-for-36) against Washington is a program record for season openers.

Stidham has picked up where he left off last season when he led the SEC in completion percentage (66.5) and completions (246), and ranked second in the conference with 3,158 passing yards. He’s on pace to rewrite the record books at Auburn. Stidham is on pace to set program highs in career completion percentage (66.7), passing yards per game (221.5), completions per game (17.38) and career efficiency rating (148.2).

3. Lesson learned from last year

Auburn learned a lot from wasting a 20-0 lead on the road last season. The Tigers grew up as a team and used that as motivation to propel themselves to the SEC West title. It was a tough lesson to learn but one that Auburn has used to its advantage.

It will be a more mature squad that takes the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday to exact revenge on LSU and close the all-time series gap, which stands at 29-22-1 in favor of the Bayou Bengals.