Halfway through the third quarter of Saturday’s game between No. 1 LSU (8-0, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) and Auburn (5-3, 3-2 SEC), students in Tiger Stadium had already forgotten who they were playing.
Chants of “We want ‘Bama” peppered the second half of the Bayou Bengals’ 45-10 victory over Auburn, a win that sets up what many are referring to as the national championship against No. 2 Alabama.
The same phenomenon took place at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., with Crimson Tide fans chanting “L-S-U” during their 37-6 trouncing of Tennessee.
It will be the first time the No. 1 and No. 2 teams face each other in SEC regular season play. The only other time LSU played in a 1-2 game was in the 2008 BCS championship against then-No. 2 Ohio State.
CBS moved the upcoming battle with Alabama to a primetime matchup at 7 p.m., and the contest will almost surely dictate the SEC West representative for December’s conference championship game in Atlanta.
LSU’s depth was on display Saturday after suspensions to sophomore cornerbacks Tyrann Mathieu and Tharold Simon and sophomore running back Spencer Ware, who were unavailable after reportedly failing a drug test.
Without Mathieu and Simon, two of the team’s top three cornerbacks, LSU actually allowed fewer passing yards than its average of 176.7, holding sophomore quarterback Clint Moseley to 145 yards in his first start.
“[Our depth] is a great piece of the team,” said LSU coach Les Miles said. “A team is never about a single player. … It is about the strength and the abilities of the sum. This is a quality team.”
Senior cornerback Ron Brooks and senior safety Derrick Bryant saw more playing time as a result of the suspensions, and they both capitalized on the opportunity.
Bryant had a sack on a first quarter third down to force a field goal to make the score 7-3. The field goal marked the only points Auburn scored until a garbage time touchdown by junior Auburn running back Onterio McCalebb in the fourth quarter.
Brooks made a leaping pass break-up in the end zone in the first quarter and intercepted Moseley in the third for a touchdown, increasing the lead to 35-3 and initiating the Alabama chants.
Sophomore running back Michael Ford started in place of Ware and led the team with 12 rushes and 82 yards. Freshman running back Kenny Hilliard benefited the most, doubling his rushing attempts this season with 10 for 65 yards and reaching the end zone twice, once in the first quarter and once in the third.
“[Hillard’s] a big back,” senior quarterback Jarrett Lee said. “He’s running hard and he’s a smart player. … He wants to get into the end zone and he wants to make plays and he’s doing just that.”
Junior wide receiver Rueben Randle also scored twice on strikingly similar routes, streaking down the right sideline and snagging the ball in stride. Senior quarterback Jordan Jefferson tossed the first score from 42 yards out midway through the second quarter and Lee connected later that quarter for 46 yards on Randle’s next touchdown.
Miles continued to juggle quarterbacks against Auburn. Lee went 14-for-20 for 165 yards and two touchdowns, while Jefferson went 2-for-3 for 54 yards and rushed four times for two yards.
“Those guys are teammates,” Miles said. “They enjoy the success that each are having and they’re rooting for each other.”
The defensive pressure was unrelenting, sacking Moseley six times.
“Six sacks are unacceptable,” said Auburn coach Gene Chizik. “You don’t win any football games by allowing six sacks. That was an anemic job of protecting the quarterback.”
Moseley said his first starting experience brought him back to high school.
“I have definitely never been under that kind of pressure before,” Moseley said. “I thought that Sweet Water in high school was bad. This is a whole different league.”