After an even first half with Arkansas which saw the Auburn run defense struggle mightily, they made all the necessary adjustments, outscoring the Razorbacks 24-0 after halftime en route to a season and conference opening 45-21 win. Starting QB Nick Marshall missed the entire first half due to being suspended for a marijuana citation. Backup QB Jeremy Johnson performed well, completing 12 of 16 passes for 243 yards to go along with two touchdown passes. Nick Marshall showed why he's the guy for Auburn under center this season in the second half, but should anything happen, Auburn fans can know they are in capable hands with Johnson. Robenson Therezie may have come up with the play of the game; hitting Arkansas QB Brandon Allen hard on an attempted pass which caused his pass to float and allowed for an easy interception and TD return for senior safety Jermaine Whitehead. It was just a 28-21 lead before that play took place, but after that, it was smooth sailing the rest of the way other than a weather delay which stopped play for some time.
After turning up the heat in the second half vs. Arkansas, the Tigers will look to keep the momentum going in an out of conference matchup against a Mountain West opponent, the San Jose State Spartans. With all the movement for school programs to different conferences, I had to go back and look up to see when San Jose State made their move to the Mountain West as I remembered them being a member of the Western Athletic Conference for almost 20 years. They moved to the Mountain West a year ago. I have to admit I know a little bit less about San Jose State this year than I have in the last couple of years. This is mainly because they lost their starting QB from the last two years, David Fales. In 2012 and 2013, Fales threw for 33 touchdown passes in each season (66 total for you non-math wizards) against just 22 interceptions and over 4100 yards passing in each season as well. He is now the number three QB for the Chicago Bears behind Jay Cutler and Jimmy Clausen. San Jose State opened their 2014 season on a victorious note, clobbering Big Sky opponent North Dakota 42-10. North Dakota was known as the Fighting Sioux, but the university agreed to drop the name a couple years ago since the NCAA thought the name as well as the former Fighting Sioux logo was offensive to American Indians. Due to laws, the university will try picking a new name for the university's athletic teams in 2015.
Anyway, back to San Jose State, their new starting QB is senior Blake Jurich. He was as good and efficient as he could be against North Dakota, completing 22 of 25 passes for 250 yards, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. To me, what stands out with him is his terrific size. Jurich was very lightly recruited out of high school, but even in high school, he stood at 6'4" and about 195 pounds. He still stands at 6'4", but is now up to around 230 pounds. Also gone for the Spartans is WR Chandler Jones. He caught 79 balls for 1356 yards and a whopping school record 15 TD grabs. But they do have a solid new go to receiver in true sophomore Tyler Winston. Winston was last year's Mountain West Newcomer of the Year as he caught 58 balls for 858 yards and 5 TD catches. He got off to a solid start this year in San Jose State's opener, catching 10 balls for 96 yards and two scores. He would seem to be the guy to watch out most for if you're Auburn defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson. Sophomore running back Jarrod Lawson could have been another guy to watch out for as he had a respectable redshirt freshman season, rushing for nearly 800 yards to go along with 4 TD rushes. He added 223 yards and a score as a receiver out of the backfield. However, he got handed a two game suspension for a violation of team rules, so he missed San Jose State's first game and will also miss this one.
My thoughts on this game are I wouldn't be surprised to see Winston and Jurich have a couple of nice moments, but as a whole, the Spartans just don't have the overall depth, speed and talent to keep up with Auburn in this one. Nick Marshall will start this one and put up some gaudy totals in his time on the field and so will Jeremy Johnson, who I expect will see a lot of playing time in this one as well. Cameron Artis-Payne and Corey Grant should put up some nice numbers of their own, but I'd like to see Peyton Barber and Roc Thomas get a few carries. As far as the defense goes, there shouldn't be the same problems for Auburn stopping the San Jose State rushing attack that they had with Arkansas' for a half. The Tigers will roll and then take the next 11 days to get ready for a tough Thursday night road test on September 18th against the Kansas State Wildcats.
My Call: Auburn 48, San Jose State 13
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