The Idaho Vandals (3-7) travel to play the Auburn Tigers (5-5) looking to snap their three-game losing streak. The SBC’s second-leading passer, Matt Linehan (2,471 yards, 14 TDs), is a player to keep an eye on in this matchup. It will air Saturday, Nov 21 at 4:00 p.m. ET on SECN.
Auburn lost to Georgia 20-13 last week. Jovon Robinson had a solid outing running the ball in the loss, running 12 times for 93 yards. Idaho also came up short, losing big against Appalachian State 47-20. Buck Cowan had a solid performance for the Vandals, totaling seven receptions for 76 yards and one TD. Matt Linehan also had a big game with 243 yards and two TDs through the air.
The Over/Under (O/U) for the matchup is 61 points and the Vandals are a big 32-point underdog.
The Tigers enter the game with records of 5-5 Straight Up (SU) and 2-7-1 Against The Spread (ATS) this season. Over their last five games, the Tigers have records of 2-3 SU and 2-2-1 ATS. The Tigers run game will attempt to benefit from a poor rush defense. The Vandals currently rank 127th in the nation with 279.1 rushing yards allowed per game. During their last five games, the Tigers gave up 247.8 passing yards per game. Auburn’s secondary should be ready to play against the Vandals, who rank 110th in the nation with 1.3 interceptions thrown per game. Idaho could put the Tigers away early, because the Vandals are one of the worst in the country in scoring defense for the fourth quarter. So far this year, they’ve given up an average of 13.2 fourth-quarter points.
In the other locker room, the Vandals have a record of 5-5 ATS and 3-7 SU. In the previous five games, Idaho has a record of 2-3 SU and 3-2 ATS. Other teams have a high success rate throwing the ball against the Tigers. It may be in Idaho’s game plan to take advantage of the home team’s 62.3% completion percentage allowed to opponents. Shifting to the other side of the ball, the Idaho defense can dominate if it takes advantage of some favorable matchups. Idaho’s defense ranks in the top half of the nation for passing yards allowed and will look to bolster its statistics this week against the 109th-ranked passing attack of the Tigers, which only averages 177.4 yards through the air per game. The Vandals could take advantage of Auburn’s reputation to run out of gas late in games. They are 109th in Division I in fourth-quarter points allowed with 9.5. Expect an up-tempo, fast-paced offense from Idaho. They rank 23rd in the country with an average of 77.1 plays per game.
Predictions: SU Winner – Auburn, ATS Winner – Idaho, O/U – Over
Notes
Auburn is 2-12-1 ATS in its last 15 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Auburn’s last 7 games.
Auburn is 0-4-1 ATS in its last 5 games at home.
Auburn is 19-5 SU in its last 24 games at home.
Idaho is 3-2 SU when leading at the half this season. Auburn is 4-1 SU when taking a lead into halftime.
Auburn is an even 2-2 SU in games where it wins the turnover battle, yet 3-2 SU when losing the turnover battle.
The Auburn ground attack is ranked 45th in the country, compared to the 127th-ranked rush defense of Idaho.
