Death Valley is always loud. But tonight’s Tiger-on-Tiger matchup was different. LSU fans were so loud in the beginning of the game, Auburn’s play was drastically affected.

With a sold out stadium, it was an abysmal first drive for Auburn. There was clear miscommunication between quarterback Payton Thorne and the offensive line because they could not hear one other. With a false start penalty and a fumble, they were off to a rocky start.

“The fans are everything to us,” cornerback Zy Alexander said. “The fans give us energy and we build off that and we go out there and play.”

The LSU offense was also having trouble hearing each other over the fans. Head Coach Brian Kelly said he and the other coaches were even forced to switch to nonverbal signals to call plays.

“It was even loud at home,” Kelly said. “We had to switch to nonverbal. There was such a crowd here tonight that we were in a verbal cadence where our center and offensive line couldn’t hear us and that’s unusual.”

After making some adjustments however, the Bayou Bengals were on a roll. Quarterback Jayden Daniels threw for 325 yards and three touchdowns and running backs Logan Diggs, John Emery and Josh Williams all had touchdowns of their own.

“Everybody’s putting in the work in the off season,” Daniels said. “Like I said, the work that you put in in the dark is what you work so hard for so it can shine on Saturdays. I’m proud of the guys and how they worked this off season and how they continue to work now.”

Hopefully for the Purple and Gold, their fans will keep up the energy for next week’s game against Army. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m.