Week Two SEC Predictions

Last week's predictions were 10-2. This week, Auburn looks to get in the win column when it battles Mississippi St. at 11:00 am CT on ESPN. Other conference action includes Florida at Texas A&M and Georgia at Missouri.

Auburn at Mississippi St., 11:00 am CT, ESPN

Auburn opens conference play on the road against Mississippi State. The Tigers are 18-1 in their last 19 league openers with an overall 45-28-5 record in SEC openers. In the series against MSU, Auburn holds a 60-23-2 record, including 12-4-1 in games played in Starkville. Auburn has won 10 out of the past 11 games in the series dating back to 2001, but three of the last four have been decided by a touchdown or less.

The Bulldogs enter Saturday's contest with a record of 1-0 after defeating Jackson State 56-9. Quarterback Tyler Russell completed 15-of-23 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns. Overall, Russell helped guide MSU's offense to 377 yards of total offense, with a balanced effort of 183 yards passing and 194 yards rushing.

Wide receiver Chad Bumphis had only one catch in the opener but should get plenty of passes thrown his way against Auburn. The senior has 102 catches during his career at MSU. Receivers Arceto Clark and Jameon Lewis will need to be productive for the Bulldogs to have a solid passing attack on Saturday. Both had three catches each against Jackson State.

Backup tailback Derrick Milton led all MSU rushers with 65 yards on eight carries and one touchdown. Starter LaDarius Perkins had just eight carries for 58 yards and two touchdowns. Perkins will definitely see more carries this week and looks to have the same kind of success that Clemson's tailbacks had against Auburn last weekend. Clemson gained a whopping 320 rushing yards.

Defensively, the Bulldogs allowed Jackson State just 265 yards of total offense and 16 first downs. Freshmen tackles Nick James and Quay Evans were impressive in their debuts with James forcing a fumble. Cornerback Darius Slay had a blocked punt in the first half and took a 52-yard interception in for a touchdown.

Auburn had its ups and downs in the season opener last weekend against Clemson. With quarterback Kiehl Frazier making his first start and 15 players on the roster seeing their first collegiate action, the Tigers performed well enough to keep the contest close. Even with all of the positives, Auburn still went home with a loss and is in danger of going 0-2 on the season with a very tough road game this weekend.

Frazier admitted after the 26-19 loss to Clemson that he made some bad decisions that need to be corrected in practice this week. Head coach Gene Chizik said there isn't a quarterback controversy and Frazier is still the No. 1 quarterback.

The sophomore finished 11-of-27 for 194 yards and a touchdown in his debut. He did struggle down the stretch, with only 2-of-8 completions in the fourth quarter. Frazier saw his offense stall in the red zone which led to Auburn relying on field goals to keep it in the game. Cody Parkey made four field goals (37-46-27-36 yards) in the game. Three of his four kicks either tied the game or gave Auburn the lead.

The offensive line and the running game were both positives in the loss to Clemson. The line, playing with two new tackles and without its starting center, helped Tre Mason reach the 100-yard mark for the first time in his career with 106 yards on 14 carries. Onterio McCalebb also added 82 yards on the ground.

The passing game showed signs of being effective but Chizik wants other receivers like Sammie Coates, Quan Bray and Trovon Reed to be more involved. Emory Blake had a career-high 109 yards, including a 54-yard touchdown catch while tight end Philip Lutzenkirchen had four catches for 71 yards.

Defensively, Auburn had poor tackling and looked like it ran out of gas in the fourth quarter against Clemson. The unit allowed 528 total yards, 47 percent third-down conversions, and 28 first downs. A few bright spots were safety Jermaine Whitehead and defensive end Corey Lemonier. Whitehead had a career-high 11 tackles while Lemonier had nine tackles with two sacks.

The unit as a whole took a lot of heat for the loss but Chizik pointed to the secondary as being the group who needs to see big improvement in practice this week. Chizik said the competition in the secondary is wide open and don't be surprised if a few new starters are back there when the Tigers take the field in Starkville.

Despite being 0-12 against Auburn, Arkansas, LSU and Alabama in four years under Dan Mullen, MSU believes this is the year it has a chance to beat Auburn. Even though it's early in the 2012 season, both teams look pretty evenly matched. This contest could come down to the home turf and those annoying cowbells.

Prediction: MSU 21-17.



Georgia State at Tennessee, 3 pm CT, PPV

Prediction: Tennessee 38-14.



East Carolina at South Carolina, 11:21 am CT, SEC Network

Prediction: South Carolina 24-10.



Florida at Texas A&M, 2:30 pm CT. ESPN

Prediction: Texas A&M 30-14.



Western Kentucky at Alabama, 2:30 pm CT, SEC Network

Prediction: Alabama 55-6.



UTEP at Ole Miss, 6:00 pm CT, FSN

Prediction: Ole Miss 17-14.



Washington at LSU, 6:00 pm CT, ESPN

Prediction: LSU 30-16.



Louisiana-Monroe at Arkansas, 6:00 pm CT, ESPNU

Prediction: Arkansas 38-13.



Kent State at Kentucky, 6:30 pm CT, CSS

Prediction: Kentucky 31-20.



Georgia at Missouri, 6:45 pm CT, ESPN2

Prediction: Georgia 24-13.



Vanderbilt at Northwestern, 7:00 pm CT, Big Ten Network

Prediction: Northwestern 28-17.

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