James Crepea

Montgomery Advertiser

AUBURN -- The battle in the trenches has its first shot and Auburn hasn't even left for Manhattan.

Kansas State left guard Boston Stiverson is not the least bit concerned with matching up physically with Auburn's defensive line.

"We have gone against big, strong, tough guys like these before, so I do not think there is any added pressure for us," Stiverson, a 6-foot-4 312 pound junior told reporters Tuesday. "We play TCU that has big and strong athletic guys. We also play Oklahoma. There are teams in the Big 12 that are just as big and as good as these guys."

However, Auburn's defensive line is considerably heavier than those of TCU and Oklahoma from last season.

The two-deep of Auburn's defensive line - Elijah Daniel, DeVonte Lambert, Angelo Blackson, Montravius Adams, Jeff Whitaker, Ben Bradley, Gabe Wright and LaDarius Owens - average 6-foot-2 3/4 inches and 292 pounds. All four tackles, who will be sure to exchange pleasantries with Boston during Thursday night's game, are over 300 pounds.

The two-deep of TCU's defensive front averaged 6-foot-2 1/2 inches and 277.6 pounds, with two 300-pounders. The top eight of Oklahoma's front averaged 6-foot-3 1/4 inches and 276.1 pounds, with just one 300-pounder last season.

Kansas State's offensive line, which averages 6-foot-3 3/5 inches and 305 pounds this year, allowed one sack in a win against TCU and three in a loss to Oklahoma last season. The Wildcats allowed two sacks per game in 2013, tied for 61st nationally.

"We have big and athletic guys on our offensive line," Boston said. "With our schemes, we will be okay. We are just going to play physical football, stay on our blocks and try to open up holes for our running backs and our quarterback or for whoever is running the ball."

It'll be up to Boston and his fellow offensive linemen to protect Jake Waters from Auburn's pass rush and also open up running lanes for Waters and running backs Charles Jones and DeMarcus Robinson.

Kansas State is tied for 97th nationally with five sacks allowed in the first two games. Auburn has registered five sacks in two games, tied for 43rd nationally.

Wildcats right guard Drew Liddle, who at 6-foot-3 and 288 pounds is the lightest of KSU's offensive linemen, was more diplomatic.

"We want to show people that we are a tough group and that we can play with anybody," Liddle said. "Their defensive line is talented with big and strong physical guys. We want to play our game, execute well and be tough."