Newsflash. Missouri is bad y’all. The Missouri Tigers continue to have major problems on the defensive end and were routed by Purdue at home this week. It was a dismal performance for a team that was supposed to start looking better in 2017 in coach Barry Odom’s second season on the job. That’s music to the ears of the Auburn Tigers, who are once again struggling on offense. Perhaps this game will end up as a panacea to a unit that has failed to find much traction on the scoreboard the past two weeks.
Watch this regular season Week 4 matchup live on Saturday, September 23, 2017, at 7:30 p.m. ET at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri. This game will be broadcast on ESPNU.
College Football Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu
Auburn -19.5
Missouri +19.5
Over/Under 55.5
Odds Analysis
Surprised to see the early action come in on the road Tigers? Neither, are we. Auburn was a 17.5-point favorite when this spread opened and that number has slowly moved upwards.
Auburn has yet to cover a game this season. The Tigers opened the year with a 41-7 victory over a Georgia Southern team that may be the worst team in the FBS but that was a push on the betting line and then failed to cover against both Clemson and Mercer. Under has been a great bet in all three games though, cashing in each tilt with plenty of room to spare.
Mizzou is in disarray right now. The defensive woes have affected every part of the game for the Tigers and they are now staring up at every other team in the SEC East wondering what went wrong. They already fired their defensive coordinator after their loss to South Carolina in the second game of the season, so what else is there to do?
Key Stat
No matter what you want to do on offense, Missouri can’t stop you on defense. The Tigers are one of the worst teams in the country in both pass defense and run defense and that won’t change over the next few weeks.
Missouri has been particularly at tackling if you want to highlight one key reason for this defense’s downfall. That was on full display in the season opener against Missouri State, where opposing players were breaking arm tackles left and right against this defense.
That will be an issue against an Auburn team that is more than happy to keep the ball on the ground.
Player to Watch
Jarrett Stidham finally looked like the ballyhooed transfer we heard about against Mercer last week. After an auspicious start against Georgia Southern and a just plain bad outing against Clemson, he picked apart the Bears defense in a narrow win.
Stidham was extremely efficient against Mercer and looked a lot more comfortable in the pocket than he did against Clemson. He wasn’t getting harassed on nearly every down by a defensive lineman bearing down on him and made the right throws for almost the whole game. Stidham should have another good outing against a Missouri defense that is a lot closer to Mercer’s defense than Clemson’s.
Free ATS Pick
Don’t be fooled by the score of Auburn’s game against Mercer last week. The Tigers moved the ball with ease against that defense, but turned the ball over five times and that allowed Mercer to keep it respectable. Auburn weren’t help out its opponent that much in this game.
Missouri is in need of something positive. Losing by 32 at home to Purdue is enough to get you fired and Odom might be out of a job if he can’t turn things around and fast.
Sadly, that won’t come in this game for Mizzou. Auburn will be motivated after the turnover-filled performance against Mercer last week and will light up this defense in a big win.
College Football Odds: Auburn 41, Missouri 20
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