The LSU Fighting Tigers (3-0, #2 AP, Coaches) travel to the plains of Auburn to face SEC West rival Auburn (1-2, 0-1 SEC) this Saturday evening. ESPN will televise the contest nationally with toe-to-leather set for 6 p.m. Central time.

LSU is expected to run roughshod over Auburn as the Bayou Bengals open conference play. Vegas has installed LSU as a 20-point favorite over Gene Chizik’s Plainsmen. The Tigers have steamrolled three inconsequential opponents in a row while Auburn dropped its first two games and barely escaped against that upstart Louisiana-Monroe team last week. Auburn’s defense can’t stop the run – the bread and butter of Les Miles’s offense – and its offense is anemic. In other words, LSU should win this one going away and set its sights on that huge game against Towson next week.

And therein lies the rub. Everyone expecting an LSU blowout on Saturday night seems to have forgotten that the LSU-Auburn series historically produces a strange, unexpected outcome. The 23 interceptions thrown by LSU quarterback Jamie Howard in the 1994 game, the “barn burner” in 1996 when Auburn’s gym literally was engulfed in flames as the game played on, the 2005 game in which Auburn kicker John Vaughn missed 9 field goals in one quarter, and the 2009 game when Les Miles could not find his hat before the game and LSU forfeited to Auburn.

Throw in the fact that Tigers QB Zach Mettenberger will depart the friendly environs of Death Valley for the first time as LSU’s starter, and that’s a recipe for good plans gone bad. Just when you thought LSU’s season would hinge on the Alabama game on November 3, will an unexpected outcome at Auburn derail the Bayou Bengals’ plans?

For guidance, we turn to prominent 1980s television shows inspired by life’s unexpected detours. I’ll tell you what, those guys from “The A-Team” always faced the unexpected with aplomb. Hannibal, Murdock, B.A. Baracus and “Faceman” didn’t let the occasional rocket grenade or rival paramilitary force get them down as they battled to the top in the Los Angeles underground.

Kevin Arnold’s entire existence was defined by confronting the unpredictable tribulations of teenage life in “The Wonder Years.” Whether deciphering the moodiness of his crush, Winnie Cooper, trying to connect with his emotionally detached father, or grappling with social issues that confronted late 1960s America, Kevin handled the unexpected as well as anyone could have hoped.

Perhaps no one in ’80s TV lore honchoed unexpected circumstances better than Thomas Sullivan Magnum in the undisputed best television series of all-time, “Magnum, P.I.” Not an episode of the show went by without Magnum tackling an unpredicted challenge in his customary Hawaiian shirt, short shorts, topsiders and Detroit Tigers hat. (Long-time readers know that at least one Magnum reference is mandatory each football season. Since we’re only in week four, Magnum may make another cameo later this year.)

Fast forward from the 1980s to 2012. LSU-Auburn is truly an underrated SEC rivalry. Six of the last eight games have been decided by a touchdown or less and the winner of the LSU-Auburn game has won the SEC West in eight of the last 12 years. But LSU has won 24 straight games during the month of September and, lest we forget, Les Miles is an all-around bad arse while Gene Chizik is a nimrod.

Our Bayou Bengals should expect the unexpected against Auburn. Zach Mettenberger will make mistakes. The defense will give up a busted play. A demoralized Auburn squad will find something to believe in and, for a fleeting moment, they’ll think they can pull off the upset. But LSU’s depth and talent should carry the day. The first half may be too close for Tiger fans’ comfort but LSU pulls away in the second half to extend the nation’s longest regular-season winning streak to 17 games.

Prediction:

LSU 38
Auburn 14

Geaux Tigers!