After LSU lit up Auburn for 387 passing yards, the Tigers are walking into another quarterback test this weekend - and this one may be even tougher.
Auburn heads to Oxford to face Ole Miss and Trinidad Chambliss, the Rebels’ explosive dual-threat quarterback who entered the season as a Heisman frontrunner and still has an outside chance to win the award for the country’s best player. Auburn coach Alex Golesh didn’t waste time making it clear how he views the matchup.
Auburn head coach Alex Golesh called Chambliss “as a special of a player there is,” when opening his weekly press conference on Monday.
“You kind of watch it from afar, and then you turn the film on, and that is a dynamic, special, special football player,” Golesh said. “He creates in every way.
Creates with his feet. The arm strength is real.
The accuracy is real. The ability to extend plays and push the ball down the field is real.”
Chambliss has backed up that reputation through seven games, throwing for 1,926 yards and 16 touchdowns against seven interceptions. He also leads the SEC in passing yards per game at 275.1.
The production follows a 2023 season in which he threw for just under 4,000 yards and 22 touchdowns while tossing only three interceptions. His interception total has climbed this year, though three of those came against Texas on Saturday.
What makes him so dangerous is the way he turns broken plays into chunk gains. He hasn’t been used much on designed runs this season, but his ability to keep plays alive is one of the biggest problems Auburn has to solve.
“I think one of the things that makes him most dangerous is when he gets out of the pocket, he can beat you running, but he keeps his eyes down the field,” said Auburn defensive coordinator DJ Durkin. “And as he’s scrambling, he’s looking to put the ball down the field and create explosive plays that way, and so you really gotta do a great job of defending the whole field when he’s out there.”
Durkin pointed to Auburn’s latest game as a reminder of what can happen when a quarterback starts breaking contain. LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt rushed for 54 yards on eight carries against Auburn on Saturday, and Durkin said Chambliss presents an even bigger challenge in that area.
“We gotta make the corrections on it. You can learn from doing things the right way and also the wrong way,” Durkin said.
“I think Trinidad when he’s scrambling, he’s still looking out the field to throw that ball. And so, we gotta do a really good job with whoever our rushers are.
They gotta cage him in the pocket.”
In Other News...
Lane Kiffin Made A Serious Auburn Accusation After LSU Win
The aftermath of LSUs win at Auburn carried an extra layer of scrutiny after Lane Kiffin said he believed Tigers defenders were trying to use a hip-drop tackle on LSU tight end TreyDez Green. Green, who had just returned from a lower-body injury, was active throughout the game and made his presence felt with five catches for 50 yards and a touchdown, but the contact he absorbed clearly became part of the story once the game was over.
Hip-drop tackles have already been banned by the NFL because of the injury risk involved, which is why Kiffins comment drew immediate attention beyond the usual postgame noise. Greens workload tapered off late, and the concern around his usage added another wrinkle to a physical night in Auburn that LSU was happy to survive, even if the conversation afterward drifted well past the final score. [Read more 🡒]
Lane Kiffin Just Dragged Auburn Into A Bigger Postgame Debate
Lane Kiffin turned a routine postgame conversation into something bigger when he singled out Auburns defenders for using hip-drop tackles against LSU tight end Treyd ez Green. Green was taken out of the game amid concerns about those tackles, a technique still not banned in college football, and Kiffins comments pushed the focus beyond the final score and into the way the game was being played.
The more interesting part for Auburn is how Kiffin framed the late-game choices from his own sideline, too. He said he put starting defenders back in despite the injury risk, pointing to player requests and the kind of mentality he wanted from his team, which only added another layer to the debate over where toughness ends and unnecessary danger begins. [Read more 🡒]
Auburns LSU Collapse Put One Alex Golesh Question Front And Center
Alex Golesh didnt try to soften the blow after Auburns 38-17 loss to LSU, putting the offensive problems squarely on his own shoulders. He said the game plan wasnt effective and pointed to missed tackles on defense as part of a night in which Auburn gave up 552 total yards while finishing with just 271 of its own.
The broader concern now is whether the Tigers can clean up enough in a hurry before a road trip to Ole Miss. Auburn managed only 67 rushing yards against LSU, and Golesh made it clear the fix has to come through better strategy and sharper execution, two things the Tigers will need if they want to avoid another lopsided result. [Read more 🡒]