Auburn’s best chance to slow down LSU’s Sam Leavitt may come through the air, not on the ground.
That’s the tension heading into Saturday’s matchup, because Leavitt has been as dangerous with his legs as he has been throwing the ball. The LSU quarterback has piled up 270 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on the ground while also throwing for 1,785 yards and 14 scores. Auburn has already dealt with four dual-threat quarterbacks this season, but Leavitt figures to be the toughest test yet.
Auburn coach Alex Golesh drew a comparison between Leavitt and his own quarterback after the Arizona State transfer landed in Baton Rouge for his final college season.
“Similar to Byrum (Brown) in the sense that he’s played a ton of football,” Golesh said on Wednesday. “Kind of been there, done that.
He is really powerful as a runner. Straight ahead powerful, does a good job in the pocket with pocket awareness, looks like a veteran quarterback.
And he’s a guy that’s gotten better and better and better every week.
“You look at it from Week 1 to now, he’s gotten more and more comfortable, and that’s natural. You’re in a system, it’s game seven.
They’ve got a ton of new guys around him, virtually all but probably three guys are guys that are probably playing together for the first time, and they continue to get better. Huge challenge for us, the fact that he can certainly move in the pocket, out of the pocket, designed run game.
They do a good job with him.”
The numbers back up the problem. In conference play, Leavitt is averaging nearly 34 rushing yards per game. Auburn’s defense has held opponents to 3.6 yards per rush and 143.0 rushing yards per game, but that alone won’t fully answer the challenge Leavitt brings.
The bigger swing factor may be Auburn’s knack for taking the football away. The Tigers are third in the SEC and 12th nationally with eight interceptions this season, and they’ve picked off passes in six straight games for the first time since 2016, when they reached eight in a row.
That matters against a quarterback who has already thrown eight interceptions this season. Auburn is also coming off a three-interception outing in its 27-24 win over Georgia last weekend, giving the defense some recent confidence in the turnover game.
“He’s going to be a lot to deal with. He’s a good player,” Auburn’s Jared Smith said on Tuesday.
Auburn (4-2, 2-2) and No. 18 LSU (5-2, 2-2) will kick off Saturday at 11 a.m. on ESPN.
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