Auburn Football Three Keys: Kent State

Auburn football hosts Kent State on Saturday in Auburn. Here are your three keys to a Auburn win over Kent State.

By Steve Wright

It wasn’t the prettiest win in the history of the program but Auburn followed the big win over Oregon with a solid, if unspectacular, performance in beating Tulane 24-6. Next up is a Kent State team that picked up an overtime win over Kennesaw State last weekend.

Key 1 – Be ready for two quarterbacks

The quarterbacking play at Kent State was supposed to be the domain of Woody Barrett this season. The Kent State poster boy, however, is now locked in a battle for the starting spot with junior Dustin Crum, a situation that would have been unthinkable heading into the season.

Against Arizona State it was Barrett who started and struggled. He was replaced by Crum for two quarters before being put back in to finish the game. Last week it was Crum’s turn to start. If we are honest, neither player has excelled, but Auburn needs to be ready to face a pair of signal-callers – in some order – on Saturday.

Key 2 – Defensive dominance

The Auburn defense started slowly against Tulane. The unit allowed almost 50 yards of offense on the Green Wave’s first drive, a drive that culminated in a field goal. From that point onward, though, the defense was somewhere between solid and immense.

The next four Tulane drives netted a total of -3 yards and the defense didn’t allow a single point to a team with a fair potent offense at all in the second half. This is great news as Bo Nix still works to find his feet in the offense. If the defense plays like this again on Saturday then the game will be trouble-free.

Key 3 – Avoid injuries

This is another one of those games where injury avoidance should be the primary goal. The Tigers are a 34.5 point favorite to beat the Golden Flashes, a line that shows that this game isn’t expected to be close. Auburn will be without their hero from the Oregon game as wide receiver Seth Williams – he of the game-winning touchdown – is out win an injury. Play the starters for 30 minutes then get them out to avoid anything happening on a freak play that would derail the season.

Saturday‘s game kicks off at 6:00 PM CT (7:00 PM ET). Watch on the ESPN2 Network.

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