Rosetta: Real test about to begin for Miles

• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate Sports
• Published: Sep 15, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Now the real grind begins for LSU.

Yeah, it’s a little hard to imagine that the things the Tigers have had to wrestle with on the perimeter (a favorite word of Les Miles works well here) hasn’t been a test of their collective will.

But nothing that has happened on the field in the first three weeks of the 2008 football season comes anywhere close to comparing to the gauntlet LSU will begin five days from now.

And Miles, rarely at a loss for words, doesn’t hide his enthusiasm for the Tigers’ SEC-opening road trip Saturday to Auburn.

Miles talked Sunday about how he has gotten juiced playing on the road since he was in junior high, about the anticipation and thrill of walking into an opponent’s back yard and playing well.

“I want us to treat this like we would treat any road game … that we would want and look forward to going there and playing our style of football,” Miles said.

That’s all good, the playing well stuff. For LSU to get a jump start on a second straight West Division championship, though, playing well better equate to a win this weekend.

For anybody who has paid much attention, the statistics are well-known: The last eight games between LSU and Auburn have been won by the home game, and five of the last seven West crowns have landed with the winner of this game.

Most of the time lately something downright weird has impacted the outcome. The last four battles have been settled by a total of 14 points, none by more than six.

Miles is 2-1 against AU, both victories at Tiger Stadium — one in overtime when Auburn couldn’t figure out how to make a field goal and then last year on the unforgettable Matt Flynn-to-Demetrius Byrd last-second touchdown pass.

While those two victories might rank high on Miles’ list, it was awfully apparent Sunday that LSU’s loss at AU in 2006 still has a prominent place stuck in his craw.

Still, Miles began the process of doing what he has to do: Downplay the hype that will gain a head of steam all week for the first major showdown weekend of the SEC season. Florida and Tennessee also collide, but no game in the SEC has become more meaningful year in and year out that LSU-Auburn.

“It just counts one no matter what, but it certainly is a very important game, and for us, we want to play well there,” Miles said. “I think there’s a great challenge to playing well at Jordan-Hare Stadium.