NCAA Football Auburn TigersMississippi State Bulldogs

Predicting the Final Score of Auburn vs. Mississippi State

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By @CouchGuyFB

Nick Marshall breaks a tackle and runs for a touchdown against LSU

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This past weekend, Auburn put a beatdown on LSU, and Mississippi State trounced Texas A&M in surprising fashion, setting up a gargantuan No. 2 vs. No. 3 matchup in Starkville this coming Saturday. While many people predicted that the Tigers would be firmly in the College Football Playoff hunt at this point in the season, only the most fervent Bulldog supporter would have had Mississippi State chasing the SEC West crown and national prominence.

The matchup between Auburn’s Nick Marshall and Mississippi State’s Dak Prescott is far and away the spotlight position battle in Saturday’s contest. Both quarterbacks are in the hunt for the Heisman Trophy and have given credence to the preseason debate as to which signal caller is the best in the SEC, but each will face a defensive challenge unlike any other that they have faced so far this year.

Marshall goes up against a Mississippi State defense that ranks in the top 20 nationally in both sacks and tackles for loss, and his “escapability” will be key to Auburn’s continued success throwing the ball down the field. Couple that with the fact that Mississippi State has only allowed two rushing touchdowns all year, and the passing game becomes even more important for the Tigers. Wide receivers D’haquille Williams and Sammie Coates have been nearly unstoppable this season, and tight end C.J. Uzomah provides a personnel nightmare for opposing defensive coordinators. If Marshall can stay vertical, expect the Auburn offense to go to the air and utilize the weapons that have torched opposing defenses this season against a Bulldogs squad that has struggled against the deep ball, ranking 110th in the country in passes of 20 yards or more allowed.

Prescott, on the other hand, faces an Auburn defense that left LSU 0-13 on third-down attempts this past Saturday. Don’t expect that to slow him down all that much, though. In five games, he has racked up 20 touchdowns, and is outpacing recent SEC Heisman winners Tim Tebow, Cam Newton and Johnny Manziel in that department. Those are video-game numbers, and will certainly put the country’s No. 9 scoring defense to the test. If Prescott is able to replicate the 200-plus passing, 100-plus rushing yard performance that has been his standard this season, the Bulldogs will make this game a serious fight.

Mississippi State has never been ranked this highly, and the atmosphere in Davis Wade Stadium will be electric. The cowbells will be ringing, the crowd rabid and with a little luck, the Bulldogs can pull off what could be the biggest win in program history. That said, there is a reason Auburn won the SEC championship, and was 13 seconds away from winning a national title last year: the ability to win tough games on the road. While many of the intangibles favor the Bulldogs, the one that matters, knowing how to win when the game turns tough, is firmly in Tigers’ possession. This will be the deciding factor in a close game.

Final Score: Auburn 30 – Mississippi State 24

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