Herbstreit's Analysis of LSU-Auburn Friday, September 3, 2004 By Kirk Herbstreit Special to ESPN.com We're going to learn a lot about key teams in marquee matchups this week as they try to begin their runs toward the BCS. No. 4 LSU vs. No. 15 Auburn (3:30 p.m., CBS) It looks like Hurricane Ivan will be gone by the time this one kicks off, but you have to believe the field will still be slick. There has been a lot of talk about new Auburn offensive coordinator Al Borges and his West Coast offense. He has a four-year starter at quarterback in Jason Campbell, and Borges is trying to get Carnell Williams and Ronnie Brown into the backfield at the same time. But the one thing you can count on is Nick Saban and his LSU defense having a nice package designed to negate Williams and Brown in the running game. LSU is no doubt sick of hearing about how good that duo is and they will be motivated to shut them down. The only way Auburn will move the ball will be to protect Campbell and find ways for Courtney Taylor, Devin Aromashodu, Anthony Mix and Ben Obomanu to get open. LSU will lock in on Williams and Brown, and put the ball in Campbell's hands to see if all the talk of his improvement has him ready to win this game for Auburn. Pass protection will be just at big as Campbell's decision-making, because LSU will come with pressure from everywhere. And even though Oregon State did a good job dealing with that -- thanks to three- and five-step drops -- Auburn has to prove it has that in the gameplan. On the other side, LSU will probably be incredibly predictable because of questions at quarterback. They will error on the side of caution and not ask Marcus Randall or JaMarcus Russell to do too much, but when they do ask them to make throws, look for defensive linemen Stanley McClover and Jay Ratliff to be chasing them all over the field. Look for Auburn to play well on defense despite being a little young. Because of that predictability, LSU will have to win this game with the defense creating turnovers and giving the offense a short field to work with. And with the offense being so conservative, some of their best plays may come on scrambles by Randall when he drops back to throw. The running of Justin Vincent, Alley Broussard and Joseph Addai, coupled with the scrambling of Randall, will be LSU's best offense. When Russell is in the game that presents a better chance to find some plays in the passing game with Skyer Green, Early Doucet and Dwayne Bowe. Auburn will have a slight advantage because Jimbo Fisher will have to pull the reins in a little bit. Still, I like LSU's defense to lead them to a 24-17 victory on the road and put them in the driver's seat in the SEC West.
Well, he certainly proved he knows the names of the key players for each team. All in all I am impressed by this somewhat superficial but accurate description of the challenges each team will face in the game. I wasn't sure who he favored till the end. Not bad for a gamedayer
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: I'll have the radio on for entertainment more than information. At least the first couple of passes.
The more I get to watch College Gameday the more impressed I become with the old Herby. I thought that it was a great analysis without being to one sided to either team. :lsug:
Next time you watch Herby on Gameday, look real closely and you will notice Pete Carroll's dried up semen on his chin....
wow herby sounded half-way sane big ups for him to go away from the media savvy(lee corso) pick but i say LSU-24 AU-10
