Auburn gets its first home test of the season Saturday night, and the AL.com crew is not exactly split on how this one plays out.
The Tigers welcome Southern Miss to Jordan-Hare Stadium for a 6:35 p.m. Central kickoff on the SEC Network, and with the new season comes a new weekly prediction series from AL.com’s Auburn beat writers. For Week 2, both picks point firmly toward Auburn, though they arrive there in slightly different ways.
Jerry Humphrey III sees Auburn rolling to a 35-14 win, while Peter Rauterkus is even more bullish, calling for a 52-13 Tigers victory.
Humphrey’s read starts with the matchup history. Auburn, he noted, has not lost to Southern Miss since the early 90s, and he doesn’t expect that to change under the lights at Jordan-Hare.
But he also made it clear the Tigers still have something to prove after a tight opener against Baylor. Auburn’s offense, he wrote, will need to show more in front of a sold-out crowd.
Turnovers are the big swing factor in his view. Southern Miss forced five takeaways in its Week 1 win over Alcorn State, and Auburn will need to clean things up after throwing three interceptions against Baylor.
Rauterkus, meanwhile, framed this one as a chance for Auburn to reset in a hurry. The Tigers are 32.5-point favorites, and he expects them to look the part. He pointed to Auburn’s offensive line and rushing attack as units that could use a confidence boost after last week’s struggle against Baylor.
If Auburn gets going early, Rauterkus believes the tempo can put Southern Miss on its heels. He sees a big first quarter as the catalyst for Auburn pulling away quickly and turning the game into a runway toward next week’s matchup with Florida.
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Byrum Browns Unusual Auburn TD Was No Fluke
Byrum Browns night against Southern Miss was packed with the kind of production Auburn will happily take every week, from 319 yards of total offense to three touchdowns in a 43-8 win. But the play everyone kept coming back to was the one that looked almost too unusual to be part of a normal game plan: Brown hauling in a touchdown pass on fourth-and-3, a catch that doubled as his first reception in two seasons and Auburns first quarterback touchdown reception since 2012.
There was nothing gimmicky about it, at least in Alex Goleshs view, who said the call was routine for that situation. Brown, for his part, framed it in the most practical terms possible, stressing the need to do whatever it takes to score. For Auburn, the bigger takeaway is that the Tigers have a quarterback who can create answers in more than one way, even if one of them looks rare enough to stand out long after the final whistle. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Is 2-0 But Alex Golesh Sees A Bigger Problem
Auburn is 2-0 under Alex Golesh after a 43-8 win over Southern Miss, and the Tigers have shown signs of progress on both sides of the ball. The running game and passing game were cleaner than they had been in the opener, giving Auburn a more balanced look and a little momentum heading into a tougher stretch.
Still, Golesh was quick to frame the outing as sloppy rather than satisfying, a reminder that the scoreboard does not erase the mistakes that pile up over four quarters. Auburn has some fine-tuning to do with conference play looming, and the urgency in Goleshs tone made it clear the Tigers cant afford to let the better moments cover for the things still breaking down. [Read more 🡒]
Auburns Ground Surge Feels Real But One Bigger Test Still Awaits
Auburn left the Southern Miss game with a rushing performance that looked a lot more like what this offense wants to be. The Tigers averaged 6.7 yards per carry and piled up 343 rushing yards, with Alex Golesh leaning on a balanced ground effort that included Omar Mabson II, Jeremiah Cobb and Byrum Brown. Even with penalties wiping out some gains, the overall picture was better than what Auburn had been putting on tape, and it gave the run game a tangible step forward.
The question now is whether that surge holds up once the competition sharpens and the pressure turns up on the offensive line. Auburn still wants cleaner, more consistent execution in the run game, and the coming weeks should bring a real look at how much of this improvement is sustainable. For a unit still sorting out its identity up front, the next few games may say more than one encouraging afternoon ever could. [Read more 🡒]