TAMPA, Florida – The last time that Auburn took on LSU on the gridiron, the year was 2023, which was only three years ago, but a significant enough gap when referring to it.
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That game was played in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Auburn suffered a grueling defeat at the hands of Jayden Daniels and then head coach Brian Kelly.
The 2026 season is now on the horizon, and LSU is once again on the schedule for Auburn, a game that is set to be played on Saturday, Oct. 24 in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Some changes have been made since the last time the rivals met each other on a Saturday. Alex Golesh is now donning the orange and blue while Lane Kiffin is wearing the purple and gold. Both sides will feel the pressure to win, but Auburn will especially seek to come out victorious, as it has lost back-to-back meetings in the series.
And while Auburn is now entering its third head coach since 2021 and has not had a winning season since 2019, Kiffin touched on the program during his time at the podium at SEC Media Days.
“I think that they’re going to be a really improved program, and that’s a really hard place to play always and really gives people a lot of problems,” Kiffin said. “That’s one of many extremely competitive games we have, including really for the first time that you have five road conference games.”
The “Tiger Bowl,” as it is affectionately known as, is part of a difficult slate that Auburn has in the month of October, with other games against Tennessee, Georgia and Ole Miss all on the road in that month.
The significance of the Auburn-LSU rivalry renewal goes beyond the actual resumption of the series though, as it will pit Xavier Atkins and Malik Blocton against their former teams for the first time.
Atkins played one year in Baton Rouge before transferring to the Plains for the 2025 season. In 2024, the linebacker did not field that much playing time, appearing in two games and tallying three total tackles. After transferring to Auburn though, he led the defensive pursuit with 84 tackles, nine sacks, a fumble recovery and an interception.
As for Blocton, he spent both of his first two collegiate years at Auburn, becoming a key defensive tackle for the team. Collectively through both years, Blocton secured 33 total tackles with two sacks and a fumble recovery.
Kiffin touched on his new defensive tackle while discussing Auburn, being impressed with the work he has put in.
“Malik is doing great, really working hard, made a lot of plays on the ball,” Kiffin said. “I think Auburn is a great program. I think they got new energy with the coaching staff and a really good offensive system coming in and keeping DJ Durkin on defense.”
LSU was picked to finish fifth in the SEC by the league’s media during SEC Media Days and received two picks to win the conference overall.
Auburn and LSU’s showdown in October will see an early kickoff, with the game beginning at 11 a.m. CT.
