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Taking a position-by-position look at Auburn vs Memphis, here’s what to watch for the Birmingham Bowl:
QUARTERBACK – Memphis: Will it be Jeremy Johnson starting for the Tigers or Sean White? For our purposes here, it doesn’t really matter because neither of them are on the level of Memphis’ QB Paxton Lynch.
Lynch might very well be the best college QB in America. There are plenty of NFL scouts who think he won’t last past the first two or three picks in this spring’s NFL draft. He finished the regular season with 3,670 total passing yards, 28 touchdowns, and only three interceptions with a completion rate of 69 percent.
Lynch’s complete trust and strong connection with his wide receivers will put the Auburn secondary to the test. He’s also extremely gifted at extending plays and keeping away from defenders, which may cause problems for an Auburn pass defense that hasn’t been very good all season and is playing this game without its defensive coordinator, Will Muschamp.
RUNNING BACKS – Auburn: The team that has relied most heavily on the run over this season gets the edge when it comes to running backs. Peyton Barber leads the way among all rushers in this matchup. He finished the season with 976 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns, and should be completely healthy for Birmingham. Auburn also has Jovon Robinson, who has had a big end-of-year comeback.
WIDE RECEIVERS, TIGHT END – Memphis: In order for a quarterback to be as prolific as Lynch, he has to have the receivers to match. And rest assured, he does. Senior Mose Frasier leads the way with 66 receptions and 750 receiving yards, with an average of 11.36 yards per reception. The other two sophomore receivers, Anthony Miller and Phil Mayhue, have even more impressive average yardage per reception numbers, and have finished the season with 684 and 644 receiving yards respectively. In total, Memphis wide receivers outgained Auburn’s by a whopping 1,784 yards.
OFFENSIVE LINE – Auburn: The Memphis offensive line has offered its quarterback slightly more sack protection over the course of the season. Lynch only went down 15 times as opposed to Auburn quarterbacks hitting the turf a combined of 19 times. However, Auburn’s offensive line has given its leading running backs more opportunities for successful rushes. Auburn’s top three running backs average 5.38 yards per carry. Memphis’ top three running backs average 4.2 yards carry.
DEFENSIVE LINE – Memphis: While Memphis didn’t have to deal with the likes of Derrick Henry or Leonard Fournette, their strength on offense is stopping the run. Memphis allows only 137.75 rushing yards on average per game to Auburn’s 189.67. Running backs also tend to get longer runs off against Auburn, averaging 4.63 yards to Memphis’ 3.41.
LINEBACKERS – Auburn: Senior linebackers Kris Frost, Cassanova McKinzy, and Justin Garrett lead the way at linebacker. Frost leads among all linebackers from both programs with 90 total tackles, two tackles for a loss, two interceptions, and one forced fumbles. McKinzy had 10 tackles for a loss and five sacks. Garrett also had two interceptions and a forced fumble on the season.
SECONDARY – Auburn: Memphis is notorious for its poor pass defense, ranked second to last in the AAC. While Auburn’s position with the SEC isn’t stellar either, the secondary is a squad that has improved. There’s plenty of talent in Auburn’s secondary. Johnathan “Rudy” Ford lead the team in tackles this season and has two takeaways, one of which turned into a pick-six. Jonathan Jones and Blake Countess also were huge presences, combining for three interceptions. Freshman Carlton Davis is a bright spot for Auburn’s future with the way that he played in 2015, nabbing three interceptions on his own.
Christine Wang is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. She covers Auburn, Arkansas and Ole Miss.
