It is a pantheon of concrete and steel. It is haunted, and it was loud—until the Auburn Tigers scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter behind their omnipresent defense. 
Death Valley was packed with over 96,000 amped fans who bore witness to the Tigers from Auburn get the best of Tigers of LSU, in Auburn’s first win in Tiger Stadium (at night) since 1999.
In a game where neither Auburn nor LSU could establish a credible run game, the two defenses held together each team. This does not imply that either defense had a stellar game, but clearly, Auburns’ Defensive Coordinator Derek Mason had his shining moments, only allowing 11 rushing yards.
Edge position for Auburn, Derick Hall was one of the strengths of their defense, locking in place a sturdy pass rush, which was expected during LSU’s preparation.
“We knew coming in that they were a pass first team, so that was something we really emphasized, getting to the quarterback,” Hall said. “We had to make a lot of adjustments … I think that’s what really helped us quarter to quarter, becoming more confident and playing looser and more physical as we made those adjustments.”
Late in the first drive of the game, LSU was showing promise; they were completing their passes and possessing a fast tempo. However, when they arrived in the red zone, their machine seemed to sputter. Center Liam Shanahan snapped the ball from the nine-yard line and sent it well above Max Johnson’s head, resulting in a 22-yard team loss. Luckily Johnson had the presence of mind to fall on the ball instead of trying to be a hero and recouping lost yards. Johnson responded on the next play, hitting star wideout Kayshon Boutte in stride in the endzone.
The next time LSU had the ball on offense, the last minutes of the first quarter, Shanahan lacked.
After a major gain from a hands to the face penalty on second down, the center slipped his grip on the ball, causing a low snap to Johnson. Johnson again picked up the slack with a four-yard run.
Shanahan’s mishaps were not the only offensive line quandaries on Saturday.
LSU couldn’t find any open lanes to penetrate Auburn’s stacked front seven. Ty Davis-Price and Corey Kiner combined for a total of 40 yards of rushing.
This was the first game of the season since the opener against UCLA where the offensive line was healthy and excited to show their strength. Cam Wire entered the game in the late first quarter and Austin Deculus started.
“I’m really disappointed in that [struggle with the offensive line].” Coach Ed Orgeron said. “We have two guys on that offensive line that we won a national championship with. I thought that would’ve been one of the strengths of our football team, but it’s not. We have to continue to look at it and improve.”
It seemed like after LSU’s dominant first-quarter performance, the team had resolved past issues of clock management. Wrong. The Bayou Bengals spent four of their five called timeouts to avoid delay of game penalties.
Orgeron also admitted after the game that the play-call was coming in late, and with the young quarterback it was difficult to stay well-organized when making adjustments on the line of scrimmage.
Against Auburn, the offensive line couldn’t make the proper in-game adjustments to combat the rush-heavy defensive schemes from Auburn, but they managed to show slight improvements in allowing Max Johnson to maintain a longer in-pocket presence. With more comfort in high-pressure games, Johnson completed 26 of his attempts for 325 yards. LSU led throughout the majority of the game until the fourth quarter, in big part to Max Johnson’s dependability on his favorite target Boutte.
The offensive line yet again struggled with time management and creating opportunities for the run game to get established. On the other side of the ball, the defensive line had their share of woes as well.
“Their quarterback [Bo Nix], we couldn’t get him down,” Orgeron said. “He made some tremendous plays so give him credit. That was the ballgame … we couldn’t tackle the quarterback.”
Last week against Georgia State, the Auburn quarterback only attempted two rushes for zero yards. Against LSU’s defense, which leads the SEC in sacks, 18, Nix attempted 12 rushes for 74 yards and a touchdown. Nix, however, could not figure out a passing game against the Tigers deep secondary, only completing 52% of his 44 attempts for 255 yards and connected to tight end Tyler Fromm for a 24-yard touchdown.
LSU will travel to Lexington, Kentucky, to face the 5-0 Wildcats in a game where the imperative will be on the offensive line.