A busy weekend of SEC battles is forthcoming. How does the team at Auburn Wire forecast this weekend’s games?
Auburn Football will not have a lack of motivation heading into this week’s game against Mississippi State in Starkville.
Monday was an interesting day at Auburn University regarding its’ athletic department. Not only was Auburn’s football coach fired, but the University also approved the hire of John Cohen as athletic director. Cohen, ironically, comes from Mississippi State.
Auburn obviously wants to win for interim coach [autotag]Carnell Williams[/autotag], but also wants to rub the Bulldogs’ nose into the fact that they just stole their athletic director.
Auburn vs. Mississippi State is not the only interesting game on the SEC slate this weekend. This weekend’s docket features two top-10 battles, No. 1 Tennessee at No. 3 Georgia, and No. 10 LSU hosting No. 6 Alabama.
The staff at Auburn Wire has taken time to break down this week’s SEC schedule, and pick the victors. Here’s the forecast for week 10’s games according to writer Taylor Jones, J.D. McCarthy, and River Wells.
Auburn and Mississippi State have each won five games over the last ten seasons, with Auburn winning three of its last five over the Bulldogs.
The first game of the [autotag]Carnell Williams[/autotag] era kicks off Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. CT against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
Saturday’s game will mark the 96th time that Auburn and Mississippi State have met on the gridiron, Auburn has won 62 games in the series, losing just 30 times to Mississippi State, with three ties.
Despite the domination by Auburn in the series, Mississippi State has made the series interesting over the last ten seasons. Since 2012, the series is tied 5-5. Auburn has won three of the last five meetings.
Some aspects which have led to the neck-and-neck stretch include Auburn’s abysmal 2012 season, which took a full 180-degree turn the following season when Auburn ended their season by playing for the Bowl Championship Series National Championship. Mississippi State also had a great stretch with quarterback Dak Prescott in the mid-2010s.
Here is a look back at the last ten games in the Auburn-Mississippi State series ahead of Saturday’s game.
Williams told the media Wednesday that his group’s hard work has him feeling optimistic about the season.
Auburn Football has plenty of positions to fill before hitting the field on September 3 to open the season against Mercer, especially at offensive line and at quarterback.
One unit on that side of the ball that appears to be solid through preseason practices is running back.
Auburn’s leading rusher from 2021, [autotag]Tank Bigsby[/autotag], is back and looks to have a monster campaign. His supporting cast member from a season ago, [autotag]Jarquez Hunter[/autotag], is also expected to take a leap forward in development this season.
Bigsby and Hunter are expected to be the leaders in rushing this season, but the room as a whole seems to be trending upward in production says running backs coach [autotag]Carnell Williams[/autotag].
Williams spoke with the media following Wednesday’s practice, and said that he is proud of the way that his group has worked to prepare for the season.
“Trying to not give them too much praise, but those guys are bought in,” Williams said. “From winter conditioning to spring ball to summer and carrying over to camp, you have guys leading with Tank (Bigsby) and Jarquez (Hunter). Young guys are working, and they are bought in. I am just excited to see what comes about.”
The ace of the unit, Tank Bigsby, had a stellar season by rushing for 1,099 yards and 10 touchdowns last season. In an effort to improve his numbers, as well as make a name for himself in the race for the Heisman, he has improved his preparation off the field.
“The thing that is going to sustain you and help you reach your potential is the small things,” Williams said. “Sometimes, really, really talented players neglect those things. With Tank and with his maturity, he has gotten better on that. He thinks like a pro. He watches film. He studies. Then just serve, and just be there for your teammates.”
Bigsby has been named to three watchlists and has been named All-SEC preseason first team ahead of the 2022 season.
Tennessee and Phillip Fulmer recruited Brown to play linebacker. After Brown committed to the Vols, then-Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville recruited him for a chance in playing running back.
“Ronnie Brown had committed to Tennessee,” Tuberville said on the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days.” “They wanted him as a linebacker. We went and recruited him as a running back and got Ronnie and Carnell, so we were able to snag a couple away from Phillip, and made us a much better football team.”
Brown committed to Auburn and was part of the Tigers’ 2000 signing class. He redshirted during the 2000 season.
Williams followed suit in 2001 and was a tough task for Tuberville in flipping the Etowah High School (AL) running back away from Tennessee.
“It was a battle, no doubt about it,” Tuberville said of Williams’ recruitment. “We were his last visit the week before signing day. We were just trying to hold on to the visit, much less get him to sign.”
Williams was committed to Tennessee, but always kept Alabama and Auburn in his top three schools. The Crimson Tide had a head coaching change from Mike DuBose to Dennis Franchione following the 2000 season, narrowing Williams’ choice to Tennessee and Auburn at the end.
“They had just changed at Alabama, which helped both with me and Phillip,” Tuberville said. “Eddie Gran, our running backs coach, had been recruiting him. Eddie is a great recruiter, good coach, and built a good relationship with him. Unfortunately, before he comes to us, Carnell commits to Phillip Fulmer on his visit and called me and Eddie Gran, and said ‘I am not taking my visit, I am going to Tennessee’.
“We just begged him to come — finally I said ‘Carnell, at least let me come see you and visit with you’. He said ‘okay Coach, I’ll see you Monday afternoon, after school’. I took every coach with me — boys we are loading up. We flew up to where Carnell was at, and I took every coach. I actually took a picture of Bo Jackson and put Carnell’s face on Bo’s picture holding the Heisman Trophy. I think with all of the attention that we gave him and his Mom, that we earned that visit that weekend. They all came, and fortunately he flipped and came to our place.”
On Feb. 7, 2001, Williams signed his National Letter of Intent to play for Auburn and Tuberville.
Brown was the No. 2 pick in the 2005 NFL draft, while Williams went No. 5 overall. Brown rushed for 2,735 yards and 28 touchdowns. Williams totaled 3,831 rushing yards and 45 touchdowns during his career at Auburn.
The junior rushed for 286 yards and three touchdowns last season for the Tigers.
Xavier McKinney knows what Shaun Shivers is capable of and the rest of the SEC is about to get its chance to find out as well.
The Auburn back is leading the race for the starting running back position for the Tigers as the season is down to two weeks away.
“Shaun Shivers has had a great camp so far,” Gus Malzahn said on Saturday. “I know Coach (Carnell) Williams rotated the other guys in a lot more today. I didn’t look at the numbers, but it is pretty closely spread out as the other four are concerned with getting reps today. That was by design to see who steps up at that position.”
As a sophomore in 2019, Shivers rushed for 286 yards on 55 attempts and three touchdowns, including that hard-hitting one in the Iron Bowl to give Auburn the lead for good.
With Kentucky awaiting the Tigers on Sept. 26 in the season opener in Jordan-Hare Stadium, Malzahn and the coaching staff are trying to settle in on who will be the feature back behind Nix. Along with Shivers, main competitors are D.J. Williams, Harold Joiner, Tank Bigsby and Mark-Antony Richards.
Malzahn has been impressed with what he has seen out of Shivers the most of them all this fall.
“He is one of the bright spots, I think, on the whole team at this point, just with his positive energy and everything that goes with it,” Malzahn added. “He is making a really good bright spot on special teams, too.
“He finished the season on a high note. He is very confident and knows the offense inside and out. He is really good protector. He is just playing at a high level.”
