What's the outside perception of LSU 12, Auburn 10?

Saturday night's Auburn-LSU game at Jordan-Hare Stadium was a thriller that wasn't decided until the last moment. For Auburn, the 12-10 loss was a heartbreaker, but it featured signs of much needed improvement on defense. While there is no such thing as a moral victory, the Tigers bowing up and holding their own against a team as good as LSU was a sight for sore eyes. Maybe, just maybe, Auburn is turning a corner.

But what does everyone else think? What is the rest of the SEC's perception of LSU 12, Auburn 10?

LSU folks are, unsurprisingly, frustrated after such a close call. The Tigers entered the game as roughly three-touchdown favorites, and it took everything they had to get out of Auburn unscathed. And the Valley Shook is concerned with the flaws shown by LSU but hopes that the game can be a wake up call.

This team is not good enough to take anyone lightly. It's time to focus. Hopefully, that's what the players take out of this game. This team is not going to roll through the schedule and win every game by 20 like last year. Auburn provided the wake up call.

It's up to the players not to hit snooze button.

Our hated rivals over at Roll Bama Roll find that Auburn had one of its best performances since 2010, but the Tigers squandered a chance to win with poor quarterback play and questionable coaching decisions.

The defense played well for the first time in ages, and more importantly did what they must do to succeed, i.e. the defensive line controlled the game at the point of attack.

As for LSU, RBR isn't impressed.

So much for the air of invincibility, an absolutely horrid showing down on the Plains against what should have been a significantly overmatched opponent.

Dawg Sports provides its usual good natured commentary on Auburn in their SEC rankings this week.

If the cheatingest program in SEC history falls just short of notching an upset, does it qualify as an "immoral victory"?

The Georgia folks have a suspicion that LSU may have just played its worst game of the season and could be on to bigger and better things.

I have the feeling that the Bayou Bengals just got this season's one bad game out of their systems, and Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche is very clear about what that means for Louisiana State's SEC Power Poll ranking.

Garnet and Black has questions regarding Saturday's game. How good is LSU? Is it time to examine whether or not the Tigers really are the SEC's second-best team?

Should LSU fans be worried? Granted, you could argue that LSU could have easily won this game by two or three touchdowns if not for some untimely fumbles by a quarterback who was probably a little shell-shocked in his first SEC road action, but still, this hardly looked like a team that's going to challenge Alabama in the West, and, for one week at least, it didn't look like a team that's clearly superior to the East's likely two best teams. Heck, maybe Florida can beat LSU.

As for Auburn, is the Tiger defense about to reap the rewards of Brian VanGorder's coaching? Sadly, GAB figures Auburn may just be the best of the bottom tier of the SEC right now.

I was impressed by AU's defense against LSU. It wasn't as dominant a performance as the score indicates, but still, the AU defensive front held its own against LSU's vaunted offensive line, and the AU secondary looked improved, too. Maybe that VanGorder magic is about to become apparent.