Ole Miss at No. 12 Auburn
Surely it’s not already Week 6. The Tigers are rolling into this one after rocking nearly all of their competitors. Their only loss has come by the hands of the defending National Champion Clemson. Even then, they only allowed Clemson to score 14 points, their lowest offensive output of their season by 17. The Auburn defense shouldn’t be troubled by the Rebels’ ground game; however, Ole Miss quarterback Shae Patterson was rattling off 400 yards per game before getting tossed around by Alabama. Plus, their rushing game is literally the worst in the country at 74.3 yards per game. Against the Auburn defensive front, they really can’t expect to have any success on the ground. Patterson is going to be slinging the ball every which way. If the Ole Miss defense can keep Auburn running back Kerryon Johnson, who has eight scores in the last two competitions, out of the end zone, they’ll have a shot. Unfortunately, it’s hard to imagine any situation where Auburn doesn’t run the ball right down the Rebels’ throat. Expect Auburn to get ahead early and shorten the clock with their ground game. Patterson will try to keep things even but eventually will tally up too many mistakes.
Prediction: Auburn 33, Ole Miss 13
LSU at No. 21 Florida
In what’s starting to look more and more like a throwaway season despite their victories, the LSU Tigers are 3-2 with just one conference play win, not to mention their 24-21 loss to Troy last weekend. Florida, on the other hand, looks like they just like to keep things interesting. Luke Del Rio is out for the season (again) but they’re still churning out wins with Feleipe Franks who is no stranger to the system. Florida isn’t a great team but they know what they’re doing. LSU, on the other hand, can’t get the pieces together and are missing guys from their line and in the backfield. If they can flush Franks out of the pocket, they’ll have a chance at halting the Gators’ offensive production. If LSU running back Derrius Guice is back in the equation, he should expect a big workload considering Florida’s suffocating secondary. Expect this to be a low-scoring game, but eventually Florida will force a turnover in the air and put things to bed.
Prediction: Florida 24, LSU 13