After beating the Northwestern State Demons on Saturday, the Mississippi State Bulldogs now look for their first conference win when they trek to Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn. There, Dak Prescott and crew will meet No. 18 Auburn Tigers, who are coming off a deflating loss to LSU in Week 2. Will a win over Auburn help Mississippi State’s chances of breaking into the Top 25 rankings? As for the Tigers, will they be able to stop Prescott and the Bulldogs’ hard-charging offense?
Read on for a preview of this matchup. You can also click here for a breakdown of the matchup between No. 12 Utah and No. 8 Oregon.
[sc:NCAAFArticles ]Mississippi State Bulldogs vs. Auburn Tigers Preview
Where: Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn
When: Saturday, September 26, TBA
Line: Mississippi State Bulldogs vs. Auburn Tigers – view all NCAA Football lines
Betting on the Mississippi State Bulldogs
[sc:NCAA240banner ]Unlike Auburn back in Week 2, the Bulldogs showed no mercy against an FCS team in the form of the Northwestern State Demons, crushing the Southland program 62-13 on Saturday. It was a nice bounce back game for Mississippi State, which lost 21-19 to LSU last week.
Once again, Dak Prescott led the Bulldogs’ attack, as he ripped of 281 total yards against Northwestern State. A top candidate to win the Heisman Trophy this season, Prescott had an easy time slicing through the Demons’ defense, passing for 227 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for 57 more.
When Prescott positions himself under center at Jordan-Hare Stadium this coming Saturday, he’ll carry with him the nice memories of his exploits in last season’s 38-23 win over Auburn. In that game, Prescott passed for 246 yards with a touchdown. He also made excellent use of his legs by rushing for 121 yards, reaching the end zone twice. Prescott should get help from wideout De’Runnya Wilson in the rematch with Auburn. Wilson, who only had 17 receiving yards on one reception against Northwestern, racked up 72 yards and a touchdown in last year’s meeting with Auburn.
Where the Bulldogs need improvement is on their defense. Mississippi State is giving up an average of 336 total yards per game thus far this year.
Mississippi State is 6-3 SU and ATS in its last nine road games.
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Betting on the Auburn Tigers
It’s starting to look like trouble for the Auburn Tigers. Following a close call to FCS team Jacksonville State back in Week 2, the Tigers got a rude welcome to SEC play when they lost to the LSU Tigers in crushing fashion, 45-21.
Jeremy Johnson had another letdown performance in the LSU game, as the junior quarterback threw for 100 yards on 11 of 19 passing with two touchdowns and an interception. It was the third straight game that he threw a pick, pushing his season total to six. That said, Johnson and Auburn’s offense was limited largely because of the team’s defense that gave LSU ball possession for over 33 minutes.
Against LSU, the Tigers’ defense against the rush was particularly bad, allowing Leo Fournette and company to run the ball for an eye-popping total of 411 yards and five touchdowns. There’s no way Gus Malzahn is happy about his unit that has surrendered opponents to compile an average of 270.0 rushing yards per game this season.
Mississippi State no longer has Josh Robinson (1,203 rushing yards in 2014) lurking in the backfield, but Auburn can’t still afford to underestimate the Bulldogs’ rushing game bannered by Ashton Shumpert and Dak Prescott.
Dating back to 2009, Auburn is 5-1 SU and ATS in six games against the Bulldogs.
Writer’s Prediction
Mississippi State wins, 38-35.
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