The Vanderbilt Commodores travel to the Plains to take on the Auburn Tigers in SEC action this weekend. Both teams are off to a strong start to the season. Auburn is 2-1, beating Baylor and Southern Miss before falling the Florida last weekend in a shootout. Vandy should be 2-1, but then CJ Bailey and NC State malfunctioned in the end zone and gave the game away. I am not sure there is a great deal of difference between these two teams, although I like Auburn to win at home. The number is sitting around 10 and hard to play either way, so I prefer the game total over 55. I think we will see some scoring.
The strength for both teams so far has been their quarterbacks. For Auburn, it is South Florida transfer Byrum Brown, who led the nation in total offense as a junior, and now brings that firepower to the SEC. For Vanderbilt, it is freshman QB Jared Curtis, a tall, strong, athletic guy who looks the part and doesn’t seem at all bothered by the stage. Both offenses should have the advantage on Saturday.
The Commodore defense has more depth than in years past, but probably lacks a lot of top-end talent. The Auburn defense was supposed to be the calling card of this team, but they have given up tons of yards to both Baylor and Florida in the early weeks. All indications are that the offenses will continue to roll this week. Give me the over.
Vanderbilt vs Auburn Prediction: Over 55 (-115) available at the time of publishing. Playable to 57.5.
