Auburn football: 5 burning questions heading into Saturday’s LSU game

Burning question #4 for Auburn football: Will Owen Pappoe’s return plug holes in the defense?

We mentioned Tucker Gregg going for 142 yards in the first half of last week’s near-loss to a Georgia State team whose defense currently ranks #92 and owns a bottom-13 offense in 2021, right?

Yea, that has to be an outlier performance for the Tigers defense. Zakoby McClain’s absence in the first half of that game was unjustified–caused by a suspension that only occurred because of an incorrect targeting call in the second half of the Penn State game–but Owen Pappoe’s injury-related DNP also left holes in the middle that were easily exploited by both Gregg and Panthers QB Darren Grainger.

Assuming #0 is back on the field, Auburn’s defense will be in a much better spot.

Burning question #5 for Auburn football: Can secondary contain Max Johnson in the passing game?

Zac Etheridge came into the 2021 season as an assistant to watch, with many projecting bigger things for him in the coming years.

Early on, pass coverage has not been a strong suit for Auburn, though. Penn State QB Sean Clifford’s 28/32 Week 3 performance was particularly damning. Ceding 302 yards through the air to the Nittany Lions offense should give Tiger fans nightmares about facing Matt Corral and Bryce Young.

Max Johnson was not the planned starter for LSU coming into the season, but he’s been able to throw for 15 TDs to just three interceptions, while completing 64% of his passes, early on in the year.

With all of the weapons he possesses, containing Johnson could be one of the main keys to snapping their two-decade long losing streak in the state of Louisiana.