The Auburn Tigers have looked like a team possessed these last two weeks. After their offense was called into question following games against Clemson and Mercer, Auburn has silenced doubters by dismantling two conference foes. The Tigers dropped hit the century mark in games against Missouri and Mississippi State, throttling both schools in the process. Now, Auburn will get to face one of its traditional rivals while they are in a nadir, the Ole Miss Rebels.
Kickoff for this regular season Week 6 game is set for Saturday, October 7, 2017, at 12 p.m.
ET at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama. This game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
College Football Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu
Ole Miss +21
Auburn -21
Over/Under 57.5
Odds Analysis
Auburn failed to cover in any of its first three games this season, but easily covered against both Missouri and Mississippi State. The Tigers offensive performance in those two games almost single-handedly pushed the game over the total as the defense played great. Under is 3-2 in Auburn games this season.
It hasn’t been a good season for Ole Miss by any stretch. The Rebels are 2-2 SU, but have yet to cover a game this year. With their remaining schedule, they might only win one or two more as well. Over has hit in three of four games for the Rebels this season.
The over is 6-2 in the last eight meetings between these two teams. Ole Miss has been unable to cover a game in Auburn since 2007, failing to stay in front of the number in its last four.
Coaching Angle
Losing a coach right before the start of the season is bad. It’s even worse, when it turns into an imbroglio that threatens the entire program.
Hugh Freeze couldn’t escape scandal during his last two seasons in Oxford and he was unceremoniously dumped when his cell phone records were outed. The team had to hire from within right before the start of fall practice and turned to Matt Luke to be the interim head coach.
Luke was a great choice for an interim coach. He played here as a center in the late 1990s and was a coach for nine seasons before taking this job. Unfortunately for Luke, he hasn’t acquitted himself well in the current role. He has been an offensive line coach for the past 15 years, and a co-offensive coordinator for the last decade, but the offense has had some issues.
Player to Watch
Jarrett Stidham has finally started to live up to the expectations he brought with him to Auburn. Stidham took a while to get going, but has been humming in Gus Malzahn’s system the last two weeks.
On the season, Stidham has completed over 72 percent of his passes and is averaging 9.4 yards per pass. Those are really good numbers considering how poor this offense was against Clemson last month.
Auburn fixed its offensive line issues and Stidham’s numbers have gone through the roof ever since. The Tigers look like the second-best team in the SEC West at this point, and it’s hard to think of any team in their division that can give them a game outside of Alabama.
Free ATS Pick
There isn’t much stopping Auburn rolling in this game except for itself. However, the Tigers are about to play three straight road games and that will test their mettle. Auburn has likely been preparing at least a little bit for the toughest of the three, in LSU next week.
Ole Miss will be able to hang around long enough in this one to get the cover. The Rebels are due to pick up a cover and this is a lot of points. It’s hard to imagine them winning outright, but this should be a decent performance from the Rebels.
College Football Odds: Auburn 34, Ole Miss 17
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