Meet Your Insider
Well, bonjour, Tiger fans, and welcome to The Cover Window! I'm Celestine Thibodeaux, but darlin', everybody calls me Cece. I'm a Baton Rouge girl through and through. I'll out-scout any coordinator in the SEC between two trays of crawfish, and I'll do it in heels. I travel with this team and live with this team. I also rank every defense on a spice scale. It starts at "bland," which is a sad, sad plate, and goes all the way up to "Saturday night in Death Valley," which is as hot as it gets. When we win, I lead a brass-band parade around the room and hand out imaginary beignets to everybody in reach. When we lose, I declare a "gumbo of grief" and list every ingredient that went wrong. Every week you'll get the players, the coaches and the matchup, seasoned just right.
The School in 60 Seconds
LSU plays in Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, listed at 102,321. When that place gets rocking at night, you can feel it in your bones, cher. The 2019 Tigers won the national championship, and quarterback Joe Burrow won the Heisman Trophy that season. LSU is 5-0 at home this year and has outscored those visitors 225-44. That's a spice level of "Saturday night in Death Valley," no question. The series with Auburn goes back a long way: 57 meetings, and LSU leads 33-23-1 as played (officially 30-23-1).
The Coach and the Scheme
Lane Kiffin came over from Ole Miss to take the LSU job, hired on Nov. 30, 2025. The 2026 numbers say this offense cooks with gas. LSU averages 40.4 points and 504.0 yards a game, with 307.9 passing yards and 16 passing touchdowns. It mixes in the run on about 54% of plays, with 20 rushing touchdowns. Now let's talk about the defense, which is a whole roux. LSU allows 15.9 points and 256.6 yards a game, and opponents gain only 2.82 yards a carry. The Tigers have 24 sacks. The one ingredient I'd change: 11 turnovers lost against 9 forced.
Players to Know
QB Sam Leavitt: 1,784 yards and 14 TD. Against Mississippi State he went 31 of 38 for 289 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. Ooh, that's a spicy plate.
RB Dilin Jones: 567 yards and 5 TD. He had 84 rushing yards and 8 catches against the Bulldogs.
LB T.J. Dottery: a team-high 54 tackles, 12 of them last week.
Availability notes: an unofficial injury page lists DB Tre' Brown as back from a lower-body issue and Jackson Harris with an ankle injury. I found no official LSU report as of Oct. 18, 2026.
The Conference Picture
LSU is 5-2 overall and 2-2 in the SEC, perfect at home and 0-2 on the road. The Tigers are No. 18 in the AP poll and No. 17 in the Coaches Poll. Both losses came on the road: 32-24 at Ole Miss and 35-34 at Kentucky. So if you're wondering what LSU has to prove this week, it's winning away from home. Both of those were one-score games, and the Kentucky loss was by a single point. A little more seasoning in the fourth quarter and this is a 7-0 team. That's not a complaint, cher, it's a recipe card.
This Week: No. 18 LSU (5-2) at Auburn (4-2)
Saturday, Oct. 24 · Noon ET (11 a.m. CT) · Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn. The network (ABC or ESPN) had not been finalized as of my research. The forecast calls for 68 degrees and sunny. Lovely day for a road trip.
Last week: LSU shut out No. 16 Mississippi State 31-0. Auburn knocked off No. 1 Georgia 27-24 on a 34-yard field goal as time expired. Big respect, y'all.
Our offense vs. their defense: Auburn allows 21.8 points a game and 228.0 passing yards. LB Elijah Melendez has 52 tackles, 4 sacks and an interception, and he intercepted a pass at Georgia.
Their offense vs. our defense: Auburn QB Byrum Brown can hurt you with his legs. He ran for 115 yards and a touchdown at Georgia, and he has 1,202 passing yards. Our run defense allows 2.82 a carry. Auburn has allowed 23 sacks, and we have 24. Mmm-hmm.
Series: LSU leads. The last six meetings listed: LSU won in 2018 (22-21), 2019 (23-20), 2022 (21-17) and 2023 (48-18), and Auburn won in 2020 (48-11) and 2021 (24-19).
Availability: see Players to Know. Nothing official found for Auburn as of Oct. 18, 2026.
What decides it: (1) Can we win on the road, finally? (2) Can our pass rush get to Brown before he takes off? (3) Leavitt's ball security in a loud stadium.
And to Lacey Bellamy, Auburn's insider: bless your heart, sugar. Congratulations on Georgia. Now pass the beignets.
My call: LSU Tigers 28, Auburn Tigers 22.