Auburn heads to Starkville on Saturday looking to keep its bowl hopes moving in the right direction, and AL.com’s beat writers are split only on the margin, not the outcome.
The Tigers are 5-4 overall and 3-4 in SEC play, while Mississippi State enters at 4-5 and 2-5. Kickoff is set for 11:00 a.m. on ESPN 2.
Jerry Humphrey III sees Auburn handling business by a two-touchdown margin, picking the Tigers 28-14. His read on Mississippi State starts with the loss of quarterback Kamario Taylor, whose turf toe injury has fueled a five-game losing streak for the Bulldogs. Even so, Auburn coach Alex Golesh isn’t taking the offense lightly.
“Tempo, that piece has not wavered. They’ve gone and played really, really fast.
That’s been an advantage for them. They’ve got really, really good skill,” Golesh said on Wednesday after practice.
“The running back is special. Those three receivers are all really, really good players.
For AJ (Swann) to go operate now in what would be his third start, they’re dangerous in the fact that they force you to defend the entire field. They force you to line up fast.
“Similar to what we do in terms of trying to force defenses to simplify pictures and be ready to rock and roll. Jeff does a really, really good job and he’s been able to adjust now through another quarterback to what can he do well?
And Leb’s always done that. They’ve always done a great job of forming the offense formationally and play design wise around what the quarterback can do.
And they’ve got really good personnel around them. So it’ll be a really, really tough task there.”
Humphrey also pointed out that Auburn is one win away from clinching a bowl berth for the first time in the last two seasons, and that makes it tough to pick against the Tigers with so much on the line.
Peter Rauterkus is a little closer to the middle, but he still has Auburn leaving Starkville with a win, 23-17. He framed the game as a tricky spot for Auburn, coming between a close win over Arkansas and what he described as an easy win over Samford.
Rauterkus noted that Mississippi State no longer has the same punch without Taylor and is still searching for an offensive identity. AJ Swann, an SEC journeyman, has taken over at quarterback and appears to be settling in, but that doesn’t mean the Bulldogs are suddenly back to putting up big numbers.
He also pointed to Mississippi State’s loss to Vanderbilt and said it would count as a major disappointment if Auburn didn’t come away with the victory.
Still, Rauterkus doesn’t expect a clean afternoon for the Tigers. Mississippi State has done a good job defending the run, and Auburn’s offense has had a habit of starting slowly. That showed up again even against Arkansas.
On the other side, he doesn’t see Mississippi State doing much against an Auburn defense that has had its own struggles. His prediction: another ugly game, but one Auburn wins in a low-scoring finish.
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