Auburn junior defensive tackle Nick Fairley continued his active season last week against Arkansas at Jordan-Hare Stadium, collecting eight tackles and knocking Razorbacks quarterback Ryan Mallett out of the game with a concussion.
The Tigers won by the staggering score of 65-43, but they've had no time to celebrate. LSU visits Jordan-Hare this Saturday in a matchup of the Southeastern Conference's lone 7-0 teams.
"It is big, playing these boys with both teams undefeated," Fairley said, "but when you're playing LSU, you don't have to be undefeated. We could both lose every game, and playing LSU would still be fun. This game is always a fight."
Although Auburn quarterback Cam Newton is receiving a plethora of well-deserved attention for his heroics both rushing and passing, Saturday's matchup also includes the league's top two defensive tackles. As stout as the 6-foot-5, 298-pound Fairley has been with 33 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, five sacks and an interception, LSU senior Drake Nevis has kept pace.
The 6-2, 285-pound Nevis has compiled 38 tackles and 11.5 tackles for loss, and he also has five sacks and an interception.
"Drake Nevis is having the kind of year that leads to awards," LSU coach Les Miles said.
Nevis was Rivals.com's No. 9 defensive tackle nationally in the 2007 signing class and played as a freshman, learning from All-American Glenn Dorsey and making two starts. He led LSU's defensive front last season with 50 tackles and led the team with 11 tackles for loss.
The journey for Fairley contained a detour. Rated the No. 28 offensive guard in the '07 class, he signed with Auburn but failed to qualify out of Mobile's Williamson High and attended Copiah-Lincoln (Miss.) Community College for two years.
Fairley redshirted in '07, so he came to Auburn in 2009 with three years to play three seasons. He had 28 tackles and 3.5 sacks a year ago, but SEC coaches are encountering a much different player now.
"Last year when he got here he was obviously a physical presence, but I also think last year there were a lot of moving parts," Auburn's Gene Chizik said. "He was trying to just break the huddle and then try to figure out what is going on. Now he is learning how to be a better player because he is very talented. I don't know if that's necessarily where he was last year."
Said Kentucky's Joker Phillips: "You look at film from last year, and you're like, 'Where did this guy come from?' This year, he's been as disruptive as anybody in the league. He looks like some of the old - and I've been in this league a long time - the old Auburn defensive players. He's similar to his coach, [Tracy] Rocker."
Rocker, who won the Lombardi and Outland trophies in 1988, is on record saying Fairley is a better player than he was.
The SEC's two sets of Tigers have been strong against the run, with LSU ranking sixth nationally (allowing 83.57 yards a game) and Auburn 15th (101.71). Against the pass, however, LSU is eighth (158.57) and Auburn is 108th (266.14).
Nevis has his work cut out in facing Newton, who has rushed for more than 170 yards four times this season, while Fairley could be chasing Jordan Jefferson and Jarrett Lee.
"Both are going to play, and both have played well against this opponent," Miles said.
Jefferson hasn't thrown for a touchdown or for more than 100 yards in a game since LSU's opening win over North Carolina, but he was stellar in last year's 31-10 rout of Auburn in Baton Rouge. He completed 21 of 31 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns.
In LSU's 26-21 win at Auburn two years ago, Lee completed 11 of 22 passes for 182 yards and two scores, including an 18-yarder to Brandon LaFell with 1:03 remaining. Last year's blowout ended a five-year run in which the Auburn-LSU game was decided by six or fewer points.
"That's why I wanted to play in the SEC, to play in games like these that go back and forth," Fairley said. "They must be pretty good if they're 7-0."