Auburn’s season opener is still more than a month away, and the Tigers have yet to report for fall camp — but that doesn’t mean they haven’t started scouting and preparing for their neutral-site matchup with Oregon.
The Tigers and Ducks open the season Aug. 31 in Arlington, Texas, in what will be the marquee matchup of Week 1. Perhaps the most anticipated matchup within the matchup will come between Auburn’s highly touted defensive line and Oregon’s much-talked-about offensive line—two units that are widely expected to be, respectively, among the best in the country.
That is not lost on Auburn’s side, where the Tigers’ defensive linemen are already keenly aware of the challenge that awaits them at AT&T Stadium next month.
“You’ve got red flags thrown up, big time,” defensive tackle Derrick Brown said. “You’ve got five returning starters; you’ve got them rated as the best offensive line by a lot of sites…. You’ve got to think, be where your feet are — and this is the first thing you need to worry about going into the 2019 season.”
The Ducks return sophomore left tackle Penei Sewell, senior left guard Shane Lemieux, senior center Jake Hanson, senior right guard Dallas Warmack (a former Alabama transfer) and senior right tackle Calvin Throckmorton. Between the five of them, they have a combined 132 starts along the offensive line.
Sewell was graded as the No. 7 overall tackle in the country last season as a freshman, according to Pro Football Focus analysis, despite appearing in just seven games while missing six due to injury. Warmack, who did not commit a penalty in more than 619 snaps, was rated as the No. 9 guard in the Pac-12, while Lemieux was the top guard in the Pac-12 and No. 3 guard in the nation, according to PFF. Hanson was the No. 2 center in the conference and finished the year with the best pass-blocking grade (84.2) among interior linemen in the Pac-12, and Throckmorton — who started at four different positions in 2018 — was rated as the nation’s No. 7 tackle and the Pac-12’s top offensive lineman (finishing with an 84.0 overall grade), according to PFF.
“They’ve got a lot of hype,” Auburn defensive end Marlon Davidson said. “They’ve got a lot of this and that. But as you see on film, you see them, like, being as good as people say they are. I give them credit. They play good. They play well as a team. I praise them a lot.”
Despite the individual rankings along the line, Oregon’s offensive line ranked below Auburn’s — a unit that generally struggled last season — in six out of nine advanced line stats, according to Football Outsiders.
The Ducks ranked better than the Tigers in power success rate (percentage of runs on third or fourth down, 2 yards or fewer to go, that resulted in a first down or touchdown), sack rate and passing down sack rate, finishing 20th (79.4 percent), 41st (5.3 percent) and 35th (6.2 percent) nationally in those respective categories.
Still, Auburn isn’t discounting the talent and experience the Ducks will bring to the table Aug. 31, and it’s a season-opening test the Tigers — who believe they have the best defensive line in the SEC and potentially the country this year — are welcoming with open arms.
“I mean, the early impression is that, man, they're great,” Davidson said. “They are, and I mean it's hard to speak on them because, I mean, they show you so many different things. I mean, like, they're a great group together. They're big guys. And all of them are like four, five stars. I mean, just playing against them on a big showcase in Jerry World, I just can’t wait.”
Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.