It’s back.
LSU and Auburn took a couple of years off thanks to the additions of Texas and Oklahoma to the Southeastern Conference. The reaction to the Red River Rivalry was to strip the SEC of LSU-Auburn, Florida-Tennessee and other classic rivalries from time-to-time.
That doesn’t mean history goes away. You know the names and remember the games.
The Barn Burned, so did some cigars. There was an earthquake and magic. Pick sixes and a punt return. There was pass interference, and then there wasn’t. There was definitely leverage. You just never saw it called again. You never saw Les Miles on LSU’s sideline again, either. A Cadillac and Cecil the Diesel.
Fournette. Cam. Bo, just not Jackson, the Nix version.
It’s War Eagle, and it’s Geaux Tigers and it’s one of the most beautiful collisions in conference history.
This time, a pair of coaches with no experience in the game will feel it for the first time. Saturday afternoon’s winner will have something special on the horizon.
For Alex Golesh, Auburn can beat Georgia and LSU in the same year for the first time since Cam Newton donned No. 2 on The Plains. It’s been 16 years.
For Lane Kiffin, it would exercise LSU’s SEC road demons that have plagued the Tigers since a drubbing of Arkansas more than two calendar years ago. It would also send LSU to the bye week with two losses and a real chance to make a move in November.
Gone are the SEC unbeatens. Saban’s stronghold is no longer. Kirby’s convoy showed vulnerability last week. The last team to traverse the league without a loss was Saban’s 2023 Alabama squad.
Too many landmines and too much parity exist for the dominance we saw from the mid-2000s to the COVID season to be maintained.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde take turns showing up each week, usually without warning. Just ask Florida, Missouri, Texas or Ole Miss which version to expect. Nobody knows.
LSU has played consistently all season. The two Tiger losses are to top-12 teams on the road by a score. When inferior teams have shown up, they’ve been dispatched before halftime.
Auburn had the look of a strong defense with a struggling offense, but Golesh may have found something in the quarterback run game during the open date. Byrum Brown’s 26 carries for over 100 yards in Athens was the result.
Early this century, this battle paved the way to Atlanta in September. From 2000-2007, the winner of LSU-Auburn won the West six times. This edition could close one team’s quest for meaningful postseason participation.
The winner, rightfully, will feel like anything is possible.
Saturday morning, LSU’s gold helmets will emerge from the tunnel, and Aurea the eagle will take flight. A sold-out Jordan-Hare Stadium will come alive with waving shakers, while a pocket of purple and gold takes it all in.
Few matchups look and feel more SEC than this one.
In a relentless and endless pursuit of money, college football changes yearly. The winner of Auburn-LSU will likely never play in an SEC Championship Game again.
These two won’t meet annually like they did for 32 years from 1992 to 2023.
But when War Eagle and the Bayou Bengals collide, unforgettable moments have a way of following. By Saturday evening, one two-loss team will have new life, while the other will be left wondering what might have been.
Welcome back.
