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Kelvin Sheppard insists that LSU's run defense is far better than it looked in its last game against Auburn and Cam Newton.
The Tigers' senior linebacker even sounds relieved that his chief worry this Saturday involves stopping Heisman Trophy running back Mark Ingram and emerging Alabama star Trent Richardson.
''Basically, I'm just glad we're getting back to the downhill football that I know Alabama plays,'' Sheppard said.
By downhill football, Sheppard means the more traditional one- and two-back formations that the Crimson Tide routinely employs before handing off to one if its super-talented and powerful running backs.
Auburn, by contrast, uses a spread offense which usually is pass-oriented, but in Auburn's case is made uniquely suited for runs because of the 6-foot-6, 250-pound Newton's ability to sprint into gaps left by defenders dropping into pass coverage.
Breaking tackle after tackle, Newton rushed for 217 yards against LSU and Auburn finished with a stunning 440 yards on the ground, including touchdown runs of 70 yards by Ontario McCalebb and 49 yards by Newton in a 24-17 win that handed LSU its first loss.
Now the No. 12 Tigers (7-1, 4-1 SEC) welcome to Tiger Stadium fifth-ranked Alabama (7-1, 4-1), which averages 187 yards on the ground and has enough balance with Greg McElroy at quarterback to make opponents wary of stacking too many defenders close to the line of scrimmage.
''Auburn, Alabama - you can't even compare the two. Totally different offense, just totally different personnel,'' Sheppard said.
''Obviously we're not playing against a 6-6, 250-pound quarterback that can run away from everybody in the stadium, and Auburn is a spread team. They can get five wide and still run,'' Sheppard said. ''Alabama - there's no secret they're going to line up in the I-back and single-back and run the ball right down your throat. And if you don't control the line of scrimmage up front and make tackles, they'll do it all night long.''
Before getting gashed by Auburn, LSU had no reason to question the quality of its run defense, which was allowing an average of 83.6 yards rushing through its first seven games.
''They've done real good stopping the run this year,'' said Ingram, who has averaged 91 yards rushing this season while sharing carries with Richardson. ''They've got linebackers that run and react well. They've got d-linemen that are explosive, and they cause lots of problems with people up front.''
When Alabama coaches were studying how to attack LSU's defense on the ground, they threw out much of the Auburn video and looked at previous games, Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said.
''From our standpoint, we discount it because that's not really our style,'' Saban said. ''That's not something that we would look at and say, 'Wow they'll have difficulty defending those plays against us,' because we don't really have those plays. We don't have that kind of quarterback. We don't have that kind of offense.''
Ingram added that he, too, was not about to judge LSU's defense based on yardage the Tigers hemorrhaged on the ground in their last game.
''The past two years that I've played them, they've been great athletes running to the ball,'' Ingram said. ''They're a big challenge to us. We just have to focus on our game plan. We really can't worry about what anybody else has done. We've got to focus on us.''
Alabama has been known to use the Wildcat formation, and by doing so again could simulate some of the problems Auburn caused LSU. That prospect, however, doesn't seem nearly as worrying to Tigers coach Les Miles.
''Alabama has a very, very talented offense, but we understand the complexities of Alabama's offense a little bit better than Auburn's,'' Miles said. ''We look forward to stopping tailback runs and Wildcat runs. We won't change our philosophy. ... We are not comfortable going against Alabama's I formation, but we do have pieces in place. What they do makes it a little more traditional for our linebackers and defensive linemen.''
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AP Sports Writer John Zenor in Tuscaloosa, Ala., contributed to this report.
