Even until this week, LSU tight end DeSean Smith says Auburn defensive back Tray Matthews was scared of Leonard Fournette.
Matthews charged Fournette, leaping, and Fournette was treasured for flipping another man over his back — one of Fournette’s shining plays during his 1,953-yard 2015 season.
Matthews described his tackling position as a “business decision.”
“I disagree with that,” Smith said prior to LSU’s yearly bout against Auburn at 5 p.m. Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium. “I think he was just scared of Leonard. We’ll have to prove it again this weekend. They’re going to get some more Leonard Fournette so they better get ready.”
The sight of a 6-foot-1, 235-pound tailback, dressed in a white jersey with gold and purple stripes along his shoulder pads carrying a football was a common — and to Smith, frightening — sight for Auburn last season.
Through three quarters, Auburn’s defense attempted to slow down LSU’s then-sophomore and Heisman frontrunner Fournette.
And before the top-25 matchup, on Sept. 19, 2015, Auburn defensive back Johnathan Ford told a group of local reporters that stopping Fournette “shouldn’t be that difficult.”
But Fournette proved otherwise by rushing for 228 yards and three touchdowns by the end of the game.
“Last year, they got the best of us,” said Auburn coach Gus Malzahn at press conference. “There’s no doubt about that. Their running back had one of those Heisman-type games, but this is a different year.”
It’s a different year, yes. But LSU’s tailback — barring any last minute injury restrictions — will be the same.
LSU’s offense rushed for 411 yards against Auburn last season. Thus far this season, Auburn’s defense has allowed more than a 100 yards twice, including 231 yards to Texas A&M last week.
Auburn defensive tackle Montravius Adams doesn’t remember the outcome of last year’s game against LSU but hasn’t forgotten the “feeling” of Auburn’s 45-21 defeat.
“I don’t remember the score, but I know it was a bad score,” Adams told The Plainsman. “I just remember the feeling, really … Just going back and watching the film and feeling like we could’ve [done] better. We just didn’t perform to the best of our ability.”
However, Auburn linebacker Deshaun Davis has been waiting for Sept. 24 for a while.
“This game is really one of the games that was circled on our schedule,” Davis told SEC Country. “We know how we played last year, which was downright not Auburn football.”
To LSU, this game serves as another roadblock in its quest for a Southeastern Conference division title and it starts at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
“We know what they’re going to come at us with,” Smith said. “We know his type of coaching style. We’re looking forward to competing.”