Auburn gets back to Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday for the first time in nearly a month, and the Tigers are walking into another heavyweight test with No. 17 LSU on the other sideline.
The timing comes after Auburn just delivered one of the biggest shocks in college football last week, upsetting then-No. 1 Georgia in Week 7.
That win was built on a clean, physical performance: Auburn won the turnover battle 3-0, ran the ball well, and outgained the Bulldogs 192-113. It was easily one of the sharpest games Auburn has put together this season.
LSU, meanwhile, answered its Week 6 loss at Kentucky by handling then-No. 19 Mississippi State in Baton Rouge, 31-0. The Tigers made the most of a Kamario Taylor-less Mississippi State team and finished with a 379-291 edge in total offense.
That sets up Auburn’s second straight week preparing for one of the SEC’s most productive teams. LSU sits atop the conference in total offense at 504 yards per game, defense at 256.4 yards allowed per game, first downs at 28 per game, and passing at 308 yards per game. The Bayou Bengals also rank in the top five in several other major categories, including points per game, points allowed per game, and time of possession.
Still, Auburn just showed in Athens that numbers don’t always decide these games. Being the more physical team was enough against Georgia, and that same formula will be the biggest thing to watch against LSU.
There’s also plenty of intrigue on the sideline, where first-year head coaches Alex Golesh and Lane Kiffin meet for the first time in that role. Kiffin is 2-3 against Auburn as a head coach and has won his last two games against the Tigers, both at Ole Miss in 2022 and 2023. Golesh has never coached against Kiffin before.
This is also a renewal of an old SEC West rivalry. Auburn and LSU haven’t met since the 2023 season, and LSU leads the series 30-24-1.
Odds courtesy of BetMGM as of Monday, Oct. 19 list LSU as a 9-point favorite. The moneyline has LSU at -325 and Auburn at +270, with the over/under set at 49.5.
Prediction: LSU 28, Auburn 20. Auburn just proved last week that stats alone don’t tell the whole story, but LSU’s overall profile is still hard to ignore. The question is whether Auburn can deliver another bruising, mistake-free performance and turn this into the kind of game that drags LSU away from its strengths.
Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. CT Saturday from Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama, with ABC carrying the broadcast.
In Other News...
Auburn Just Lost A Defensive Leader At The Worst Time
Xavier Atkins had become one of Auburns most important defensive pieces this season, so his dismissal from the football program lands at a particularly difficult moment. The junior linebacker had already built out a strong 2025 rsum and was part of the group helping stabilize a unit that needed dependable play at the second level.
Now Auburn has to move on without one of its top defensive leaders after his suspension during the win over Georgia. The Tigers will have to lean harder on the linebackers still standing, including sophomore Elijah Melendez, as they try to keep the defense steady with the schedule still moving fast. [Read more 🡒]
Lane Kiffin Just Added More Intrigue To Auburn's LSU Showdown
Lane Kiffin has already started stirring the pot ahead of LSUs trip to Auburn, and in doing so he added another layer to a game that was already carrying plenty of weight. Kiffin said he was pulling for Auburn to knock off Georgia in the Tigers recent matchup because LSU is next on the schedule, and he also acknowledged how difficult it is to deal with Auburn at home. For Auburn fans, it was the kind of candid opponent commentary that only sharpens attention on a matchup that was already going to draw plenty of it.
The timing matters because LSU is trying to steady itself in the SEC, where recent losses have only increased the pressure around Kiffins tenure. Auburn, meanwhile, gets a chance to play spoiler on its own turf, with the ripple effects reaching far beyond one Saturday night. If LSU slips again, the impact would not stop at the standings, and the stakes around this one figure to keep rising the closer kickoff gets. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Just Delivered The Win That Changes Alex Golesh Expectations
Auburns 27-24 upset of No. 1 Georgia did more than snap a nine-game losing streak in the rivalry, it gave the program a result that instantly reframes what comes next under Alex Golesh. The Tigers took down a Georgia team that had been rolling under Kirby Smart, and they did it with Byrum Brown driving the offense and delivering the kind of balanced performance Auburn has been searching for.
Browns work as both a runner and passer helped Auburn keep the Bulldogs off balance, and his final drive was the one that mattered most in closing out the win. Golesh, after the game, pointed to the backing the program has received from former Auburn legends, a reminder that this kind of victory tends to bring the past and present together fast at a place where expectations never stay quiet for long. [Read more 🡒]