Auburn @ Mississippi State preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 10, 2011 ) Mississippi State 34, Auburn 41

The schedule jumps in degree of difficulty for Mississippi State after an easy victory in their season opener, but the Bulldogs should not need any motivation when Auburn visits Starkville on Saturday in the Southeastern Conference opener for both. Mississippi State suffered one of its most painful losses in recent memory last year at Auburn as the Tigers stopped Chris Relf at the goal line on the final play of a 41-34 Auburn victory. Mississippi State drilled Jackson State 56-9 last week, scoring 35 first-half points. The Bulldogs returned two interceptions for a touchdown and got a strong performance out of quarterback Tyler Russell. In Atlanta, the Tigers allowed 10 fourth-quarter points in losing to No. 14 Clemson 26-19 at the Georgia Dome. One encouraging sign for Auburn was Tre Martin’s 107 yards rushing.

TV: 12 p.m. ET, ESPN. LINE: Mississippi State –3.5

ABOUT AUBURN (0-1): The Tigers seek improvement on both sides of the line. Auburn allowed 320 yards rushing to Clemson and committed a costly holding penalty inside the 10-yard-line that resulted in the Tigers kicking a field goal instead of potentially scoring a touchdown. Kiehl Frazier, who won the starting quarterback job in fall practice, passed for 194 yards but completed only 11 of 27 passes.

ABOUT MISSISSIPPI STATE (1-0): The Bulldogs finished with a balanced 377 yards of total offense (194 rushing, 183 passing) in the opener. Russell passed for two touchdowns and completed 15 of 23 passes. Derrick Milton added 65 yards rushing and the Bulldogs’ defense got interceptions returned for touchdowns by Darius Slay and Matthew Wells.

EXTRA POINTS

1. The Bulldogs rushed for 333 yards in last year’s matchup.

2. Auburn leads the series 60-23-2 and has won four straight contests against the Bulldogs.

3. The Tigers also won with a final-series stop in 2010, forcing an incomplete pass with 22 seconds left.

PREDICTION: Mississippi State 24, Auburn 17