Three offensive keys for Auburn football vs Southern Miss

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The Auburn Tigers host Southern Miss on Saturday night for the Jordan-Hare debut of Alex Golesh as head coach.

This is a game where the Tigers should come away with a comfortable win before they begin SEC competition the following week with Florida. Auburn enters the game as the heavy favorite.

BetMGM makes them a 33-point favorite, and the ESPN Matchup Predictor gives them an 87.7% chance of victory. However, there are things the Tigers must do offensively for that to be the case on Saturday.

Run the football

In the Tigers' 17-16 win over Baylor, it appeared early in the game that Auburn was more interested in throwing the football than running it. Auburn needs to establish the run game early with Jeremiah Cobb and show that the offensive line can win the line of scrimmage. Also, they need to get Omar Mabson and Bryson Washington more involved in the run game. Both had a combined six carries versus Baylor for just 26 yards. The run game cannot just be Byrum Brown and Cobb for this offense to be successful.

Protect the football

In the anatomy of an upset in college football, one of the key factors is usually the turnover battle. Auburn is very fortunate they were able to win last week with three turnovers in the game. All three of those mistakes came from interceptions thrown by Brown. He has to be more careful with the football. The first and third interceptions are correctable. The first one, he was just taking a chance down the field but threw into double coverage. The third one he clearly stared down where the football was going, and the Bears took advantage. With the second one, maybe Auburn was being greedy towards the end of the second half, but the ball was tipped at the line of scrimmage. If Auburn stays away from the turnovers, they should be in good shape on Saturday.

Efficiency in the passing game

A lot of attention was paid to the three interceptions by Brown. However, not enough conversation has been on the fact that he was 8 of 12 on third down for 110 yards. He also showed a great connection with his former South Florida teammate Keshaun Singleton. The two connected seven times against Baylor for 89 yards. The first offensive key of the game is establishing the run. If Auburn is able to get that going early in the game, Brown will have opportunities in the passing game when Southern Miss is forced to bring an extra defender to stop the running backs.

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This article originally appeared on Auburn Wire: Three offensive keys for Auburn football vs Southern Miss

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