For the past few weeks Baton Rouge has been gearing up for the monumental Southeastern Conference matchup between No. 6 LSU and No. 5 Auburn.
And judging by the way LSU played McNeese State on Saturday, the Tigers were too.
LSU (7-0) appeared to be looking past the Cowboys in a sluggish and vanilla 32-10 victory Saturday night in Tiger Stadium.
“We kept some things, certainly, that we didn’t want to run in this game,” said LSU coach Les Miles. “That was probably a mistake.”
The Cowboys (2-4) scored the first points of the game when freshman quarterback Cody Stroud connected with sophomore wide receiver Damion Dixon for a 3-yard touchdown pass.
The score was set up when McNeese recovered a fumble by LSU junior quarterback Jordan Jefferson on the LSU 5-yard line. Jefferson netted four yards of total offense in the game, completing 5-of-8 passes for 28 yards while carrying the ball four times for -24 yards.
LSU responded to the score immediately.
Junior cornerback Patrick Peterson returned the ensuing kickoff 45 yards to the McNeese 40-yard line.
Junior quarterback Jarrett Lee then entered the game for his first series of the evening and led the Tigers on a six-play touchdown drive capped by a 2-yard run by junior running back Stevan Ridley.
McNeese sophomore kicker Josh Lewis kicked a 23-yard field goal following a seven-play, 35-yard drive, giving McNeese a 10-7 lead.
But once again, Lee and Ridley answered on the ensuing drive. Lee was 4-for-5 for 36 yards and Ridley carried three times for 20 yards on the drive, including a 10-yard touchdown run to put LSU ahead for good, 14-10.
Lee would finish the game 9-of-14 for 75 yards.
LSU took a 16-10 lead into halftime after senior defensive tackle Drake Nevis wrapped up McNeese  junior running back Andre Anderson in the end zone for a safety. It was the first safety for LSU since Nevis recorded one last season at Alabama.
Redshirt freshman running back Michael Ford scored the first touchdown of the third quarter on a 6-yard run. The extra point attempt by senior kicker Josh Jasper was no-good — the first time in his illustrious career he has missed an extra point.
Jasper connected on three of four extra point attempts and hit one of his two field goals of the evening.
Jasper also rushed for a first down for the second consecutive week. Late in the second quarter he caught a snap on a punt, and as the Cowboys coverage team took off downfield to set up their return blocking, Jasper broke into a dead sprint for 11 yards and a first down.
“We told him to look at that,” Miles said. “We said, ‘You have a look-see,’ because it didn’t look like they were pressing the punt. They weren’t forcing us to punt the ball, so certainly he pulled that sucker down and got a first down.”
The final score of the game came on a 36-yard run by Ford, capping a ground attack drive that spanned 69 yards.
Both Ford and Ridley scored two touchdowns on the night, the first time the Tigers’ had two players score two rushing touchdowns in the same game since Charles Scott and Jacob Hester accomplished the feat against Tulane in 2007.
The defense held McNeese to 219 yards and allowed just 3.3 yards per play.
“We did a good job on defense,” said senior linebacker Kelvin Sheppard. “They have scholarship players, too. They came out, and this was their championship game, and they came out with championship effort. It kind of woke us up a little bit, and we came out in the second half and got the job done.”
But Lee is not satisfied with his unit’s performance.
“We just need to focus more,” Lee said. “We’re preparing great in  practice during the week so we just need to get in and watch some game film and just keep rolling.”
Despite the milquetoast game plan and lackluster effort at times, Miles enjoyed having the outcome of a game not be in question during the final moments.
“What the heck, it wasn’t even hardly tight or anything, was it?” Miles joked. “I asked for some gum or something.”
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Contact Rob Landry at [email protected]