Mississippi State Bulldogs host Auburn Tigers Oct. 11th
By Ian Palmer
The Mississippi State Bulldogs will be hosting the Auburn Tigers in one of this weekend’s best NCAA football matchups. This highly-anticipated game will be taking place at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville on Saturday, October 11. The Tigers caught a break last week when Ole Miss upset the Alabama Crimson Tide and gave them an advantage over their SEC West rivals. However, they’re going to have to be on their toes this weekend to make sure they don’t find themselves in the same boat Alabama did. The Bulldogs remained unbeaten last week by defeating Texas A&M at home 48-31.
NCAA Football Betting Line from Bovada:
Point Spread: Auburn is laying 3 points on the road. Auburn (-3.0) -110, Mississippi State (+3.0) -110
Over/Under: 63.5 points -110
Money Line (to Win): Auburn -150, Mississippi State +130
Last week saw four of the nation’s top six teams lose, but Auburn made sure they took care of business with a 41-7 home win over 15th-ranked LSU. The Tigers first four drives all resulted in scoring plays with a field goal and a trio of touchdowns. Quarterback Nick Marshall passed for a pair of touchdowns in the game and a total of 207 yards. He also rushed for another two TDs along with his season-best 119 yards. Marshall, along with Cameron Artis-Payne, combined for 245 of the Tigers 277 yards on the ground, but will be facing a good front seven at Mississippi State. Also, the Tigers struggled when carrying the ball in their last road game by averaging just 2.8 yards a carry against Kansas State.
Marshall’s touchdown passes last week meant it was the first time in his career that he has thrown for at least two touchdowns in three straight games. Wide receiver Sammie Coates also had a good game with four catches, a touchdown and a total of 144 yards. The Tigers’ defense came up big and they’ve been doing it all season long by allowing an average of 14.4 points against per game, which ranks them ninth in the country. Their 304 yards against per game places them at number 14.
Auburn will be facing hot quarterback on the weekend in Mississippi State junior Dak Prescott as he’s beaten LSU and Texas A&M in the last two games and is hoping to make it three straight over top-10 teams with a win against the Tigers. He had a total of 373 yards against LSU with two touchdown passes and a rushing TD. Against Texas A&M he ran for three TDs, passed for two, gained 259 total yards and hit the jackpot on 76 per cent of his pass attempts.
However, Mississippi State isn’t just a one-man team as junior running back Josh Robinson has six TDs in his past four outings and his 16 carries against LSU were good enough for 197 yards. Robinson’s now averaging about 7.5 yards with each carry so far this year. The team’s defense has been playing well as they’re averaging fewer than 100 yards against per game this season. Also, they’ve allowed only a pair of rushing touchdowns against them. The Bulldogs’ pass defense isn’t as good though as opposing teams have averaged more than 328 passing yards against them each game. On the bright side, they’ve recorded nine interceptions in five games this season.
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