Saturday Predictions: Auburn at Vanderbilt

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Well, that sucked.

Vanderbilt nearly came all the way back but the 34-10 hole they dug themselves at Texas last week was too much to overcome. Now the Commodores are (checks notes) 7-2 and honestly, we’re still playing with house money here for a team that Vegas set the win total at 4.5 this season.

And speaking of digging themselves a hole, Auburn fired Gus Malzahn to hire Bryan Harsin, then fired Bryan Harsin to hire Hugh Freeze, who didn’t even make it three full seasons before getting fired himself. Freeze put together a 15-19 record at Auburn and while he somehow managed to avoid embarrassing himself off the field, his on-field performance was… well, they scored three points against Kentucky last Saturday. That whole “house money” comment doesn’t apply any more if we lose to Auburn this week or Kentucky in two weeks. Anyway, what do our writers think will happen here?

Tom Stephenson

The thing here is that Auburn is unpredictable now that they’re on an interim coach (D.J. Durkin, best known for getting a player killed in preseason practice while he was the head coach at Maryland) and you never really know if they’re just gonna mail it in or go balls to the wall because fuck it, why not.

That said, while the talent is there, the quarterback position is… Jesus Christ, how did they have that quarterback room? Former five-star Jackson Arnold got benched at Oklahoma, transferred to Auburn to be Hugh Freeze’s program savior, and… apparently, got benched again. Now it’s Ashton Daniels, who stunk at Stanford. Yeah, I don’t think this offense is gonna score too many points. Now the Auburn defense is good enough that we might (might) end up with a Woodyball special here. I think Diego Pavia and Co. will do enough to outscore a dreadful Auburn offense.

It’s just really too bad that Diego didn’t get to make it four wins over Hugh.

The Pick: Vanderbilt 20, Auburn 6

The SEC Upset Pick of the Week: I don’t see a good pick, so fuck it, give me MISSISSIPPI STATE (+9.5) to beat Georgia because why not.

Andrew VU ‘04

I’ll cede my time to the distinguished Squid from Georgia:

The Pick: Vanderbilt 27 – Auburn 13.

The SEC Upset Pick of the Week: I don’t know why Kentucky (+3.5) is going to beat Jortsville, but they are. It’s two teams with great defensive talent and literally nothing else, but one of them has already fired their coach. Pick the one that has his house in order.

Patrick Sawyer

Before firing Freeze, I would have taken the Dores big. Yes, Auburn has held everyone they have faced to 24 points or less. I would have expect Auburn to score 10 points or less as Vanderbilt got to or just beyond that 24-point mark. Now, I have a little concern that Auburn’s offense actually comes out with a cohesive plan from one playcaller and can use their 2 very good WRs Cam Coleman and Eric Singleton Jr along with crowd of quality RBs that Auburn seemingly always has to score points.

Vanderbilt’s defense, specifically CJ Heard and Langston Patterson, forgetting how to tackle against Texas is a major concern, too.

I really want to believe that the offense will come out hot. They stuttered against Missouri and Texas in the first halves. Auburn is a slightly weaker version of what both Missouri and Texas offered, so the Beck/Kill brain trust should have a good plan to attack them early. Getting an early lead would also put the pressure on that Auburn offense as it tries to get rolling.

The Pick: Vanderbilt 31, Auburn 17

The SEC Upset Pick of the Week: Since I have to pick one, let’s go Missouri over Texas A&M. That is a very good Missouri defense. They could do some interesting things to Marcel Reed. I really do not see Zoellers being good enough against A&M’s defense though. It would need to be a game like we had with Missouri where the Tigers force a turnover or two to get short fields or defensive scores.

Cole Sullivan

Lookie here. Auburn is bad. We are good. It’s homecoming. Let’s not overthink this. Dores by a billion.

The Pick: Vanderbilt 34, Auburn 13

The SEC Upset Pick of the Week: Missouri (spits) beats A&M because I refuse to believe A&M is for real. It will be a close, but ultimately very clear, win.

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