Top-ranked Louisiana State’s 45-10 rout of 19th-ranked Auburn on Saturday set the stage for the most anticipated game of the season — a showdown with No. 2 Alabama on Nov. 5 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. No. 2 Alabama defeated Tennessee, 37-6.
The second-largest crowd in Tiger Stadium history chanted “We want Bama!” as the final seconds ticked off in the most lopsided outcome in the 46-game series between L.S.U. and Auburn.
Bye weeks for L.S.U. and Alabama next weekend ensure the first regular-season meeting between unbeaten Southeastern Conference teams ranked Nos. 1 and 2. The last time two top-ranked teams in the Associated Press poll faced off in the regular season was Nov. 18, 2006, when No. 1 Ohio State defeated No. 2 Michigan 42-39.
There should be no shortage of hype surrounding the showdown, a contest many analysts consider a de facto play-in game to the Bowl Championship Series title game. “We’ve put ourselves in position at this point to play a very significant game,” L.S.U. Coach Les Miles said. “There’ll be a lot of aspects to it, certainly the glare of the media.”
He added: “The good news is you get to play a big-time game. Our guys will enjoy it. We’ve always enjoyed those games.”
The Tigers could hardly have been more impressive Saturday. They dominated Auburn, the last season’s national champion, in every phase, never trailing and steadily extending their lead with each quarter. The blowout victory avenged a 24-17 loss to Auburn last season.
“We have one goal, and that’s to get to the national championship,” L.S.U. defensive end Michael Brockers said. “I feel like we did what we had to do.”
L.S.U. (8-0) is off to its best start in 38 years by playing Alabama-style football. As they have all season, the Tigers relied Saturday on a formula the Crimson Tide patented for success years ago: a dominant defense and efficient, error-free offense.
Quarterbacks Jarrett Lee and Jordan Jefferson combined to complete 16 of 23 passes for 219 yards and 3 touchdowns. More important, neither committed a turnover. It was the Tigers’ fifth consecutive game without an interception or fumble, the kinds of mistakes that haunted L.S.U. teams in past years. L.S.U.’s last giveaway was an interception against Mississippi State on Sept. 15.
Meanwhile, the Tigers’ defense continued its opportunistic ways. They made life miserable for the sophomore quarterback Clint Moseley, who was making his debut as a starter for Auburn (5-3). Even without the ballhawking skills of Tyrann Mathieu, who was suspended for the game, the Tigers forced two critical turnovers, sacked Moseley six times and held Auburn to a season-low 248 total yards.
A fumble recovery by Tahj Jones on a kickoff return and an interception by Ron Brooks, which he returned 28 yards for a touchdown, sparked a 21-point outburst in a head-spinning 2-minute-24-second stretch of the third quarter.
Brooks was starting in place of Mathieu, who, along with running back Spencer Ware and cornerback Tharold Simon, missed the game while serving a one-game suspension, reportedly for failing a drug test. The takeaways gave L.S.U. an 18-3 advantage in turnovers this season.
“I thought that Sweet Water in high school was bad,” Moseley said of his prep rival at Leroy High School in Alabama. “This is a whole different league. I have definitely never been under that kind of heat before.”
The Tigers’ performance was even more impressive considering that they did it without their leading rusher and two of their top three cornerbacks. The suspensions of Mathieu, Ware and Simon were the latest in a series of off-field problems for the Tigers.
Jefferson missed the first four games of the season because of his involvement in a bar fight. He was reinstated on Sept. 28 after a grand jury reduced his felony second-degree battery charge to a misdemeanor. Receiver Russell Shepard missed the first three games because of an N.C.A.A. rules violation.
Those two have been part of the Tigers’ success on the field. Against Auburn, Jefferson threw a 42-yard touchdown pass to Rueben Randle in the second quarter and Shepard scored on a 10-yard reception in the third.
“We understand how special this season is and how we want it to be,” Lee said. He added: “We have a special thing going, and we have a special group of guys. We just have to continue to stay focused and play hard.”
The off-field drama has not affected the Tigers on the field. They have trailed for only 6:33 of the season, a span that stretches to the second quarter of their opener against Oregon. They have won their past four SEC games by an average of 31 points.
“We’ve improved; we needed to,” Miles said. “We don’t think we have hung the moon in any way.”
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Chritina Aguilera will sing the National Anthem before Super Bowl XLV. (Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)
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