Scooter Hobbs

Leaving the press box at Auburn Saturday, I happened to share the elevator with a trio of what I would assume were student workers.

Not to worry. We kept our social distance, much as LSU’s defense had done for most of the afternoon during the 48-11 massacre.

But I couldn’t help but overhear the gist of their conversation, which in the afterglow of the most lopsided victory in the nutty history of all the LSU-Auburn hijinks, concerned the Auburn quarterback.

“That was the Bo Nix we’ve been waiting to see,” one of them said, and they all agreed the sky was now the limit for their football team.

Ah, the innocence of youth.

But I didn’t say anything.

I might have suggested they give Mississippi State a call. See what an audience with LSU’s defense did for the Bulldogs early (false) impressions of their quarterback, K.J. Costello. Missouri would also like a word.

Then the lads upped the ante, mentioning that “Those were the national champions” like it was a worthy scalp.

Again, I bit my tongue.

Didn’t want to spoil the party.

And, hard as it is to remember five games into LSU defending that championship, they were technically correct.

I could have asked if during the game they recognized any of those LSU faces from last year’s LSU team.

Precious few, would have been the answer. And not a fair comparison.

But I might also have sent them to some of their Auburn elders.

Many of them would have recognized what LSU is struggling with right now from a similar predicament Auburn was in almost a decade ago.

The War Eagles, with a quarterback coming out of nowhere to win the Heisman Trophy with one of the most dynamic seasons of all time, went undefeated and won the national championship in 2010. You may remember Cam Newton. Still turns up in NFL games from time to time. Nick Fairley might have been the best defensive player in the country that season. I know LSU never blocked him.

Both were long gone by the time 2011 rolled around, but the Auburn faithful turned up for the next season opener figuring national championships were the new normal of the day and it would be as easy as the previous year.

Remember the dumbfounded shock of how badly LSU played against Mississippi State in the first defense of the big trophy?

Auburn in 2011 might have felt worse — and it won its season opener.

It didn’t feel much like it.

Auburn invited little ol’ Utah State in for that gala, the first formal celebration of the previous year’s title, and dang if the War Eagles didn’t need the kind of miracle to beat those Aggies that it normally reserves once a decade or so to beat Alabama.

They trailed Utah State by 10 with under four minutes to play and needed an onsides kick to score two touchdowns and save face.

Sigh of relief. But it was pretty obvious Cam Newton didn’t live there any more.

Auburn finished 8-5 that season, which might sound pretty good to a 2-3 LSU team right now, especially since the meat of the schedule really began with Saturday’s beatdown.

But it’s not a good comparison.

Thanks to this being the Coronavirus Season, no Utah States were allowed on the SEC-only schedule. The SEC handed the Tigers Vanderbilt on a silver platter and that’s about as much as you could ask for. LSU had to play Mississippi State before everybody realized how bad the Bulldogs were.

Auburn that year needed the benefit of Florida Atlantic and Samford along with Utah State.

In the games that really mattered to its fans, Auburn looked a lot like LSU did on Saturday. The War Eagles lost to Alabama 42-14; to LSU 45-10; to Georgia 45-7. Arkansas took a 38-14 bite out of the celebration.

I could’ve cautioned them with that history lesson, but it might have sounded like excuses for LSU.

And for LSU, no matter how many missing parts had to be replaced, this is now five games into the season … no matter how screwy of a season it still feels like.

There is no excuse at this stage for still being Lost in Space in the secondary, for still getting caught inside on simple sweeps, for all but fainting at the sight of misdirection in an offense’s pre-snap motion.

LSU — One Team, One Heartbeat — progressed from some heartbreaking losses to inferior competition to an old-fashioned beatdown at Auburn.

At least there could be no finger-pointing. LSU’s offense, which kept the other two losses close, joined the frustration for this disaster.

After a scoreless first quarter that looked like two average but evenly matched teams trying to figure each other out, three LSU turnovers sparked the meltdown that spiraled out of control in the second half.

That’s the part that has to concern Ed Orgeron the most — just how quickly it all went south, with the Tigers seemingly helpless to do anything about it.

Just Monday he was recalling three years ago when LSU rallied from 20 points down against Auburn to win.

Blame it on youth if you must, but this team wasn’t even able to make a game of it.

 Freshman quarterback TJ Finley got most of the blame for the meltdown — two picks and a lost fumble led to 21 points.

But the root of a suddenly anemic offense was a non-existant ground game — 32 total yards, 1.7 yards per carry — against an Auburn defense that came into the game 12th in the SEC in stopping the run.

“We’re going through some growing pains,” Orgeron said Monday. “We have young players and new coaches. We have a plan here … We just had one of the best teams in college football last year. We’re not that far away.”

It didn’t look like it last week.

Right now a 5-5 season would be a miracle, 4-6 might be pushing it.

Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at shobbs@americanpress.comLSU wide receiver Koy Moore catches a pass during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Auburn on Saturday in Auburn, Ala.

Associated Press