Auburn game-by-game predictions: Running the table possible, but brutal path awaits

Gus Malzahn and his Auburn team eye an SEC title and playoff spot in 2018. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Gus Malzahn and his Auburn team eye an SEC title and playoff spot in 2018. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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Mississippi State QB Nick Fitzgerald keeps defenses on their heels as a dual-threat player. (Photo by Butch Dill/Getty Images) /

Auburn at Mississippi State

When: Oct. 6
Where: Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field, Starkville, Miss.
Time: TBD
TV: TBD

By the time we arrive to this weekend, we’ll know a lot more about the Bulldogs. They are getting a lot of optimistic outlooks from analysts in front of Joe Moorhead’s first season as head coach.

Nick Fitzgerald is back from that ugly leg injury suffered against Ole Miss. MSU also returns two of the best defensive linemen in the SEC and the country in Jeffery Simmons and Montez Sweat. But here’s the catch: Those three players were on the field last season when this game was played and Auburn annihilated the Bulldogs, 49-10.

Yes, Auburn played one of its best games of the season and outscored MSU 28-scratch in the second half and harassed Fitzgerald all day. And yes, Auburn doesn’t have Kerryon Johnson, who ran for 116 yards and three scores. But is that enough to think the Bulldogs can make up the gap from last season to this one even with the game in Starkville?

Very, very unlikely.

Prediction: Auburn 35, Mississippi State 24 | Record: 6-0, 3-0 in SEC