DIMANCHE

Fear the Mett-stache!

by Christopher Rinaldi

The LSU Tigers will march into Auburn to kickoff SEC play on Saturday (6:05 p.m. kickoff). LSU heads into the game ranked second in the country and holding a 3-0 record. Auburn is a struggling team that showed it's not up to par with the top tier of the nation, after opening the year witha loss to Clemson and falling to Mississippi State in their second game. However, Auburn picked up their first win of the season last week against UL-Monroe

Kiehl Frazier, Auburn's sophomore quarterback, will have to put things together for the first time in order for Auburn to compete. But, he'll have to do it against a LSU defense that will pressure him while providing coverage down the field on the back end. Frazier already has five interceptions on the season and has only managed to look adequate against Clemson and UL-Monroe, while having a disastrous performance against Mississippi State, where he threw three interceptions.

LSU will play one day short on practice, as the bomb threat on the Baton Rouge campus canceled football practice earlier in the week.  Still, Les Miles is likely to have his team ready for their first road trip of the season.

Sophomore defensive end Anthony Johnson assured the media that LSU would not adjust their preparation and performance to their opponent's track record. "

We can't take no opponent lightly, we're going to go in there with same mindset we had every year and every game. We're just going to go up in there and play LSU football. That's what we want to do and what we were taught to do," Johnson said. 

The Tigers' offense will continue to highlight their stable of running backs, even without Alfred Blue, who is due to miss the game with injury. Kenny Hilliard will be healthy and will seek to add to his SEC leading six rushing touchdowns on the year.  Also, expect to see the speedy Michael Ford more, in addition to Spencer Ware, who has faded into the background through the first three games of the season due to injury.

Quarterback Zach Mettenberger will try to build upon his success, and eliminate his failures, as he has experienced both thus far this season.  He will have to be aware of Aubrun's defensive star Corey Lemonier. Lemonier, a projected top ten NFL pick next year, holds all the traits of an elite pass rusher. The LSU offensive line, which is missing starting left tackle Chris Faulk and possibly his replacement, Josh Dworaczyk, will need whoever is anchoring the left side of the line to contain Lemonier. 

If the line can protect Mettenberger, look out for Kadron Boone, who has scored a touchdown in each of the Tigers' first three games. It would also be encouraging for both LSU and its fans to see Mettenberger build upon the chemistry between him and senior wide receiver Russel Shepard. Shepard caught three passes for sixty-eight yards in the Tigers' drubbing of Idaho last week. 

It would be wise to expect a convincing LSU win on Saturday. This team sounds unlikely to take any game for granted. We saw this attitude from LSU last year, and it's more than likely to continue through this year, as the Tigers look to avenge last season's National Championship loss. With Alabama sitting as the top-ranked team in the country, it seems assured that the Tigers will bring their fire to the playing field weekly. 

Things continue to go well for LSU on the recruiting front.  Their class is nearly full of soft commitments and is on pace to challenge the team's current senior class, which was arguably the best class in the nation in 2008-09. Junior College transfer, Aleon Calhoun, is expected to announce his commitment shortly and LSU is one of a handful of teams in the running for the offensive lineman. 

Finally, keep an eye on Zach Metenberger's mustache this week. Anyone who was fortunate to catch the game on pay-per view last week, or caught a glimpse of the sidelines at a bar, would have noticed Mettenberger is developing a classic late 1970s-1980s spillover. We'll be keeping an eye on the Mett-stache for you, but the attached picture shows where it stood on Monday.