By BJ Bennett
SouthernPigskin.com

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It’s here where Tigers have earned their stripes.

Expect Auburn-LSU to be interesting.

This annual SEC West cat fight has developed into one of college football’s most intense and competitive rivalries. Title implications, with the 2010, and nearly 2013, and 2019 national champions, have often been the backdrop. Wild finishes have been the expectation. The league’s tale of two Tigers has come with a mirror for three hours each season. As LSU staggers forward mere months after finishing 15-0, Auburn is fittingly stumbling right ahead, too. At a combined 5-4, both talented teams have had similarly inconsistent starts.

The winner Saturday gets something that has been hard to come by in recent years: separation.

Remarkably, the last four meetings between Auburn and LSU have all been decided by four points or less. The Bayou Bengals are on a three game winning streak; there was the onsides kick recovery this past season, Cole Tracy’s 42-yard field goal as time expired two years ago and the late defensive stand of 2017. The last victory for the Plainsmen came by way of the leg of Daniel Carlson, who kicked six field goals in 2016, and following a review of what was initially ruled a walk-off game-winning touchdown pass from Danny Etling to Travin Dural.

Remember, it wasn’t Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma or Texas which played LSU closest during last season’s perfect championship run, it was Auburn.

Jordan-Hare Stadium has been the recent theatre for the dramatic in the series, with seven of the last eight outings there being decided by one score. Since 2004 on the Plains, there has there been a one-point game, two two-point games, a contest with ten total points and, as referenced, a finish where a game-winning touchdown as time expired was reviewed and reversed. LSU head coach Les Miles, national championship ring in hand, was fired the next day.

Few rivalries in the country have had the chaos, excitement and frenzy of Auburn-LSU. It’s here where Tigers have earned their stripes.

This Saturday, don’t be surprised if things get weird.

Somehow, Auburn and LSU are both still searching for the same thing this season: a winning streak.

Following victories over Ole Miss, albeit with some controversey, and South Carolina, respectively, meaningful momentum awaits. Somebody will soon step on the springboard. Success will come with a step forward. Failure could come with two steps back. Coaches Gus Malzahn and Ed Orgeron and quarterbacks Bo Nix and Myles Brennan and/or T.J. Finley are part of the many storylines at play. Few games on the overall schedule are more intriguing.

Every weekend in the SEC is a big stage, but the spotlights here will be specially bright. It’s a showcase this rivalry has earned.