Heartbreak and close defeats have been the theme for Auburn when its played LSU recently.

This year, the team is looking to buck that trend.

“I will tell you this: Our guys are extremely excited and motivated to play this game, 2:30 CBS kick,” Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said. “Playing at home, I think that’s really big.”

Dating back to 2017, LSU has found a way to win when they take on Auburn.

Auburn went up 20-0 at LSU that year, but LSU used a big punt return to capture momentum and knock off Auburn 27-23.

In 2018, Auburn was up 21-10 and had control almost the entire way before Joe Burrow and LSU used a couple of late scores and a game-winning field goal to take down Auburn.

Last year, Auburn lost 23-20 in LSU’s closest game of its national championship season.

Playing in that loss last year, linebacker Owen Pappoe is ready for his crack at revenge.

“I think that's huge for us -- and we've got LSU at home. We had a really close game with them last year, so we're going to redeem ourselves next Saturday coming up at home,” Pappoe said. “So I think us being at home is a big advantage for us, and we're really looking forward to this game.”

While this clearly isn’t the same LSU team as last year – with names like Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Patrick Queen, Joe Brady, Dave Aranda and a variety of other names gone – Malzahn knows this is a team that’s continuing to improve each week.

“You look at LSU and you see a team that each week has improved. Probably played their best game overall,” Malzahn said. “They’ve got a bunch of new guys like we do, and you can tell they’re improving.”

The Tigers of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, are currently sitting at 2-2 with losses to Mississippi State and Missouri, and victories over Vanderbilt and South Carolina.

The win over South Carolina was behind freshman quarterback TJ Finley, who filled in for the injured Myles Brennan. “First of all, I was really impressed with the young guy,” Malzahn said. “They ran the football and he made some really good throws. Some in really tight coverage. But the big thing is they were able to run the football successfully with him playing quarterback.”

Auburn will be taking on LSU at 2:30 p.m. CST on CBS.

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