LSU 2020 Game Notes: SEC West’s pair of Tigers tangle at Auburn

• W5 SEC NOTES 2020 (PDF)
• G5 LSU NOTES: AT AUBURN (PDF)
• G5 OPP. NOTES: AUBURN (PDF)

• LSU (2-2) travels to face Auburn (3-2) on Saturday in Jordan-Hare Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on CBS.
• LSU is coming off a 52-24 win over South Carolina last week.
• LSU is 31-22-1 all-time against Auburn, which includes a 3-0 mark under Ed Orgeron. LSU has won three straight and four of its last five against Auburn. The last four games between the teams have been decided by a total of 13 points. Last year, LSU beat Auburn, 23-20, in Tiger Stadium.
• The win over South Carolina moved the Tigers to 12-0 under Ed Orgeron in games following a loss.
• LSU is 14-2 under Orgeron in games played during the month of October.
• Orgeron is 42-11 as head coach of the Tigers. His 40 wins through the first 50 games were the second-most among any coach in school history.
• Of his 42 wins with the Tigers, 33 have come by double-figures, 18 have come against teams ranked in the Top 25 with 12 of those coming against Top 10 opponents. Orgeron is 12-3 against Top 10 teams at LSU.
• LSU is 25-1 overall under Orgeron and 2-0 in 2020 when having a 100-yard rusher.
• LSU has had either a 100-yard rusher or 100-yard receiver in 12 consecutive games.
• In three games, LSU has used 17 first-time starters (10 vs. Mississippi State, 3 vs. Vanderbilt, 1 vs. Missouri, 3 vs. South Carolina).
• Against South Carolina, LSU scored TDs by rushing (3), receiving (2), kickoff return (1) and interception return (1).
• WR Terrace Marshall Jr. has caught at TD pass in a school-record tying 7 straight games. He currently leads the SEC and ranks No. 2 in the nation in TD receptions (9).
• Marshall has caught at least 1 TD pass in 12 of the 17 games that he’s started during his career. Dating back to last year, Marshall has 14 TD receptions in his last 7 games. This year, Marshall has 27 receptions for 512 yards and 9 TDs.
• RBs Ty Davis-Price (245 yards, 2 TDs) and John Emery (225 yards, 2 TDs) have combined for 470 of LSU’s 566 rushing yards. Both players have a 100-yard games this year (Emery 103 vs. Vanderbilt; Davis-Price 135 vs. South Carolina).
• True freshman QB TJ Finley started in place of an injured Myles Brennan last week and completed 17-of-21 passes for 265 yards and 2 TDs in his LSU debut. He became the first LSU true freshman to win his first start when it came against an SEC opponent.
• QB Myles Brennan is the first player in LSU history to throw for 300 yards or more in his first three career starts. Brennan’s passing yards (1,112), completions (79) and TD passes (11) are the most of any LSU quarterback in their first three career starts. Brennan is 79-of-131 for 682 yards, 11 TDs and 3 interceptions in three games.
• 12 different players have caught passes for LSU this year. True freshman TE Arik Gilbert is second on team with 16 receptions for 204 yards and 2 TDs.
* True freshman DE BJ Ojulari – this week’s SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week – leads the SEC with 4.0 sacks. He had 3.0 sacks against South Carolina.
* True freshman CB Eli Ricks – who returned an interception for a TD against South Carolina – leads the nation in interceptions with 3.
* LB Damone Clark and S Jacoby Stevens lead the Tigers in tackles with 29 each.
* PK Cade York is 7-of-8 on field goals and with four of his six field goals coming from 40-yards or longer.
* P Zach Von Rosenberg is averaging 46.2 yards a punt and 11 of his 15 punts have been downed inside the 20-yard line. Von Rosenberg didn’t have to punt last week in the win over South Carolina.
* RS/WR Trey Palmer became the first LSU player to return a kickoff for a TD in Tiger Stadium since Oct. 17, 1981 when Eric Martin did it against Kentucky. Palmer’s return went for 93 yards. Palmer is this week’s SEC Special Teams Player of the Week.

By The Numbers
7 – Terrace Marshall Jr. has caught at TD pass in seven straight games, which ties the school-record.

11 – Consecutive games LSU has scored at least 30 points dating back to Alabama game last year.

14 – LSU leads the SEC in sacks with 14, an average of 3.5 per game.
23 – Straight games LSU has had at least one passing touchdown.

Expect The Unexpected When LSU and Auburn Get Together
*Since 1988, the LSU-Auburn series has become one of close calls and one in which the teams and the fans have come to expect the unexpected.
*The following is a listing of some of the notable happenings in the series since 1988:
1988: LSU’s Tommy Hodson hit Eddie Fuller in the back of the endzone on fourth down with 1!41 left to lift the Tigers to a 7-6 win over fourth-ranked Auburn. The noise from the stadium crowd after the play registered on a seismograph across campus prompting the game to be titled “The Earthquake Game.”
1994: Auburn intercepted five passes in the fourth quarter, returning three for TDs as the Tigers rally to post a 30-26 win over LSU in a game that become known as “The Interception Game.”
1995: LSU donned white jerseys at home for the first time since the early 1980’s and promptly went out and upset fifth-ranked Auburn, 12-6. LSU preserved the win with an interception in the endzone on the last play of the game. The contest was dubbed the “Bring Back the Magic” game.
1996: With the old Auburn Sports Arena burning to the ground a couple hundred yards away, LSU beat Auburn, 19-15, in a game titled “The Night the Barn Burned.”
1997: Titled “The Comeback,” Auburn QB Dameyune Craig engineered a 10-play, 80-yard drive late in the fourth quarter to spark the Tigers to a 31-28 upset of 10th-ranked LSU.
2004: Titled “The Call,” Auburn appeared to have missed an extra point with 1!14 left that would have left the game tied at 9-9. However, LSU was called for a penalty on the extra point, thus giving Auburn a second chance at winning the game. The second PAT was good, and Auburn held on for a 10-9 win, snapping LSU’s 10-game winning streak.
2005: Auburn missed five field goals, including one in overtime, as LSU held on for a 20-17 win over Auburn in Tiger Stadium. The win helped propel LSU to the SEC Western Division title and the game is now known as the “Field Goal Game.”
2007: “Can’t See Me” Demetrius Byrd caught a 22-yard TD pass from Matt Flynn with just one second left to send LSU to a 30-24 win over Auburn in Tiger Stadium. The play seemed to have caught Auburn off-guard as the Tigers could have attempted a 39-yard field goal for the win. However, LSU took one final shot at the endzone as Flynn connected with Byrd for the score, who then gave the “Can’t See Me” gesture to the LSU student section after coming up with the catch.
2008: Freshman quarterback Jarrett Lee led LSU on a 7-play, 54-yard capped with an 18-yard TD pass to Brandon LaFell as the LSU Tigers rallied for a 26-21 win over Auburn. It marked the second straight year that LSU scored in the closing moments of the game to beat Auburn.
2010: Cam Newton rushed for 217 yards and 2 TDs in fourth-ranked Auburn’s 24-17 win over undefeated and sixth-ranked LSU in Jordan-Hare Stadium. As a team, Auburn rushed for 440 yards, the most ever given up by an LSU team.
2011: LSU stepped out of its usual home attire and donned the Nike Pro Combat uniforms and responded with a 45-10 win in Tiger Stadium in what was the most lopsided victory (for either team) in the series.
2012: Trailing 10-9 at the half, No. 2 LSU held off an unranked Auburn team using a third-quarter field goal to prevail 12-10. Drew Alleman’s field goal proved to be the only points for either team in the second half. Sam Montgomery had a safety and finished with 3.5 tackles for loss.
2016: Quarterback Danny Etling drove LSU the length of the field and connected with DJ Chark on 15-yard game-winning touchdown drive with no time remaining on the clock. The call was overturned by video review citing no time remaining on the clock and LSU fell to Auburn, 18-13. On the previous play, LSU was flagged for an illegal shift after picking up a first down at the Auburn 2-yard line with 0:01 to play. With the clock starting on the official’s whistle, Etling – who rolled out of the pocket and found Chark for a tip-toe grab in the back-right corner of the endzone – was ruled to have received the snap after time had expired.
2017: Trailing 20-0 early in second quarter, LSU rallied for a 27-23 win to mark the largest comeback victory in a SEC game in Tiger Stadium for the Tigers. DJ Chark’s 75-yard fourth quarter punt return got LSU to with 23-21 and then Connor Culp provided the go-ahead points on a 42-yard field goal to put the Tigers up 24-23 with 2:36 to go. Culp added a 36-yard field with 38 seconds left for the final margin.
2018: Down 21-13 midway through the fourth quarter, LSU quarterback Joe Burrow connected with Derrick Dillon for 71 yards on the first play of the drive to make it a two-point game at 21-19. After a defensive stop by LSU and with just over five minutes left in the contest, Burrow marched the Tigers down the field on a 14-play, 52-yard drive to the Auburn 24 where Cole Tracy drilled a 42-yard field goal as time expired, sending LSU to a 22-21 win over seventh-ranked Auburn in Jordan-Hare Stadium. Tracy’s field goal marked the first time in school history LSU won a game on a field goal on the final play of regulation.
2019: No. 2 LSU overcame a pair of turnovers to defeat No. 9 Auburn, 23-20. Defensively, LSU held Auburn to 287 yards, forced 10 punts and had three sacks, as quarterback Bo Nix managed only 15-of-35 passing for 157 yards with a touchdown and an interception. LSU was led by quarterback Joe Burrow, who posted career highs in passes (32) and attempts (42) for 321 yards with a touchdown passing and another rushing that put the homestanding Tigers ahead by 10 points early in the fourth quarter. It was the closest game LSU had in the 2019 perfect season.

Home Team Has Won 17 Of Last 20 Games In Series
*The home team in the LSU-Auburn series has won 17 of the last 20 meetings dating back to 2000 when Auburn beat LSU 34-17 in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
*The Auburn win at Jordan-Hare Stadium in 2000 started a streak that saw the home team win eight straight games in the series. The streak was snapped in 2008 when LSU rallied for a 26-21 fourth quarter win at Auburn.
*The home team streak started again in 2009 with LSU winning in Tiger Stadium, followed by an Auburn victory in Jordan-Hare Stadium in 2010 and an LSU win in 2011 in Baton Rouge.
*Prior to the 2008 game, the last time a road team won in the series came in 1999 when Auburn posted a 41-7 victory over LSU in Tiger Stadium. Ironically, that was the fourth straight game in which the road team had won in the series. LSU beat Auburn at Auburn in 1996 and 1998, and Auburn won in Tiger Stadium in 1997 and 1999.

Consecutive Starts
*S JaCoby Stevens leads the way in consecutive starts with 23 after the win over South Carolina.
*There are only two other players for the Tigers that have made 8 or more consecutive starts in WR Terrace Marshall Jr. (12) and DE Austin Deculus (8).

LSU Under Louisiana’s Own Ed Orgeron
*In his fourth full season as head coach of the Tigers, Orgeron continues to gain momentum on the field and on the recruiting trail.
*Orgeron has guided the Tigers to a 42-11 overall mark.
*He has led the Tigers to five postseason victories – one in the SEC Championship Game, two bowl games and two in the College Football Playoffs.
*Of LSU’s 42 wins under Orgeron, 33 have come by double-figures and 12 have been over Top 10 teams. The 12 Top 10 wins rank as the second-most for a coach in LSU history, trailing only Les Miles who won 16 games over Top 10 opponents in 12 years.
*Under Orgeron, the Tigers have played 46-of-53 games ranked in the Top 25, including every game in 2018 and 2019.

The Tigers On Halloween Night
*The Tigers are 7-7-1 on Halloween Night in program history and have met Auburn one other time on Halloween with LSU coming out on top in 1908, 10-2.
*On Halloween night In 1959, Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon returned a punt for an 89 yard touchdown against Ole Miss in Tiger Stadium. The return occurred late in the fourth quarter and provided the only touchdown score in the game, as the Tigers won 7-3.
*Below is a list of LSU games on Halloween:
Date Game Result
1903 at Shreveport AC (Shreveport, La.) W, 5-0
1908 at Auburn (Auburn, Ala.) W, 10-2
1914 at Texas A&M (Dallas, Texas) L, 63-9
1925 vs. Arkansas (Shreveport, La.) L, 12-0
1931 Sewanee (Baton Rouge, La.) L, 12-6
1936 at Vanderbilt (Nashville, Tenn.) W, 19-0
1942 at Tennessee (Knoxville, Tenn.) L, 26-0
1953 Ole Miss (Baton Rouge, La.) L, 27-16
1959 Ole Miss (Baton Rouge, La.) W, 7-3
1964 Ole Miss (Baton Rouge, La.) W, 11-10
1981 vs. Ole Miss (Jackson, Miss.) T, 27-27
1987 vs. Ole Miss (Jackson, Miss.) W, 42-13
1992 vs. Ole Miss (Jackson, Miss.) L, 32-0
1998 vs. Ole Miss (Oxford, Miss.) L, 37-31 (OT)
2009 Tulane (Baton Rouge, La.) W, 42-0

True Freshman TJ Finley Became Eighth True Freshman QB to Start
*True freshman QB TJ Finley became the eighth true freshman QB to make a start at quarterback since WWII. Brandon Harris made the last true freshman start in 2014.
*It was the third time since WWII that a true freshman made a start in their first appearance (Herb Tyler, 1995 and Steve Ensminger, 1976).
*It was the second time a true freshman QB made a start in an SEC game. Brandon Harris was the first in 2014.
*It was the first lefty quarterback to see action since Rick Clausen on Nov. 23, 2002 against Ole Miss.
*Finley was 17-for-21 with 276 yards and two passing touchdowns and one on the ground. He also added 24 rushing yards on eight carries.
*His 276 yards is the most by an LSU true freshman QB in their first start in program history – previous was Herb Tyler with 208 in 1995.
*Finley scored his first career rushing TD on the first possession of the game – a 1 yard rush that gave the Tigers a 6-0 lead.