Week 1: Auburn vs Mercer 9/3/22 College Football Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Auburn Tigers and Mercer Bears do battle Saturday afternoon in week 1 of college football action at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The Mercer Bears look for another win after smoking Morehead State in their season opener. The Auburn Tigers are coming off a 6-win season and enter the second year under coach Bryan Harsin.

The Mercer Bears have won 3 of their last 5 road games. Fred Payton is completing 64.7 percent of his passes for 248 yards, 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Ty James and Devron Harper have combined for 227 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns, while Travion Solomon has 1 reception. The Mercer Bears ground game is averaging 359 yards per contest, and Austin Douglas leads the way with 140 yards and 2 touchdowns. Defensively, Mercer is allowing 13 points and 278 yards per game. Zach Hopkins leads the Mercer Bears with 7 tackles, Richie Coffey has 1 sack and Cam Sims has 1 interception.

The Auburn Tigers averaged 28.3 points and 401.3 yards per game last season. Auburn allowed an average of 21.8 points and 372.7 yards per game last season. T.J. Finley has a chance to win the starting quarterback job after 128 pass attempts last year as Bo Nix’s backup. Shedrick Jackson and John Samuel Shenker are a returning receiving duo that combined for 900 yards and 1 touchdown, while Tank Bigsby led the Tigers with 1,100 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns. Defensively, Colby Wooden returns after 61 tackles, Derick Hall led the Tigers with 9 sacks and Jaylin Simpson had 1 interception. Auburn has quarterback questions and lost a lot of playmakers at receiver. Auburn also says goodbye to its top-three tacklers from a year ago. The talent is there in terms of recruiting, but Auburn will need a lot of new faces to step up if it’s going to survive a stacked SEC.

The Bears are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 road games and 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games overall. The Tigers are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 non-conference games and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games overall. The under is 5-1 in Tigers last 6 games overall.

The Mercer Bears weren’t all that impressive in their season opener, and this is obviously a massive step-up in competition. The Auburn Tigers have some question marks they need to answer if they’re going to be a factor in the SEC, but there’s certainly enough here to blow the doors off lower level FCS squads. This game could get ugly for Mercer. Big line, but it’s nothing Auburn shouldn’t be able to cover.