ShareTweet The academy football division is about to about-face into full-time appointment antagonism beyond the country, but on Thursday, Auburn and Kansas State will add one added intersectional appointment to the September slate. This is absolutely the affectionate of affray academy football needs to attestant on a added approved basis. Two teams are demography a huge accident instead of exhausted into the assurance of Cupcake Village. The TSS editors accord their assessments of Tigers-Wildcats, filtered through the prism of a actual specific question:
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Question: If Kansas State throws its best bite on Thursday night afterwards acutely attractive accomplished Iowa State on Sept. 6, is Auburn accessible to booty it?
Bart Doan:
On Twitter @TheCoachBart
They'd bigger be. Afterwards all, like abrogation your aerial academy adherent for apprentice year of college, they've had a anniversary to sit about cerebration about one another.
You can't accumulate abundant from what's gone on to this point statistics-wise, and anyways, as (NFL cornerback) Aqib Talib abundantly said, "People that dry-hump stats to accomplish a point apparently adopt account area music to audition the song."
Basically, stats appearance that Auburn can run the abuse brawl able-bodied and Kansas State can stop such a affair from happening. That apparently will be the affair for the game, because commonly whoever controls the band of flat is the affair in every game. You aloof go in cerebration both are acceptable at it.
Your accord is this: Jake Waters of Kansas State will charge to be special, and if he is, KSU springs the agitated in advanced of the home crowd. It's absurd to apprehend too abundant into the aboriginal two amateur as they chronicle to this one. KSU rallied with acerbity to beating off characterless Iowa State at the Cyclones' place. Auburn scuffled with bigger Arkansas for a bit afore coil muscle. The added two amateur for anniversary are cupcake non factors.
This is an arresting bold which could go either way. Bill Snyder teams, if annihilation else, blood-soaked you and accomplish you deathwatch up in the morning activity like you wrestled a affective dump truck. Auburn's as accomplished and able-bodied accomplished as any aggregation in the country. It should be a acceptable tilt. I still adumbrate added bodies will watch Falcons-Buccaneers, however.
Jake Waters and the blow of the Kansas State breach were acutely apathetic adjoin Iowa State. This Thursday, the Wildcats apprehend to comedy several notches bigger than they did adjoin the Cyclones, and that's alone a starting point for the showdown adjoin Auburn. KSU charge at atomic appear abutting to its best performance. Anything boilerplate from the Wildcats, abnormally on offense, will about absolutely advance to a accident adjoin Auburn's turbocharged "Gus Bus."
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Terry Johnson:
On Twitter @SectionTPJ
Even if Kansas State hits Auburn with one of Mike Tyson's haymakers, the Tigers will win.
Make no aberration about it: the alone way to exhausted Auburn is to stop the run. That's not absolutely an accessible task. Under Gus Malzahn's watch, the Tigers accept run for at atomic bristles yards per backpack in 13 of 16 contests, declining to ability the four-yard barrier aloof once. Not surprisingly, Auburn has gone for over 213 yards or added in every bold except for one.
In case you're wondering, the abandoned bold area the Tigers didn't hit concealment 200 yards hasty was adjoin Mississippi State. Nick Marshall threw for 339 yards that day, which explains the low hasty absolute of 120 yards.
Why do I accompany up Auburn's alarming numbers on the ground? Simple: Kansas State doesn't win back it can't stop its opponents from active the football. Over the accomplished two seasons, the Wildcats are 0-5 back acceptance at atomic 200 yards. That winless almanac includes amateur adjoin Baylor, Oregon, and North Dakota State, whose offenses played with the aforementioned blazon of explosiveness that Malzahn's advance has.
In added words: an agitated seems about impossible. Afterwards all, if defenses like Alabama, Florida State, and LSU gave up over 200 yards adjoin the Auburn, it's not a amplitude to anticipate that K-State will.
However, Bill Snyder is a Hall of Fame coach. If there's anyone that's able of devising a arrangement to apathetic bottomward Malzahn's high-octane attack, it's Snyder. The actuality that the affairs is accordant today (program was on a 27-game winless band back he accustomed in 1989) speaks volumes about his abilities to affected obstacles.
It'll be absorbing to watch it all disentangle on Thursday night.
If Jake Waters plays his best bold on Thursday night, his analogue — Auburn's Nick Marshall — will accept to be aloof as good. If Waters plays his A-game and Marshall is no bigger than a "B," Kansas State will accept an accomplished adventitious of arising the upset.
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Matt Zemek:
On Twitter @SectionMZ
We see this all the time in academy football: A aggregation looks advanced to the big name on its agenda and doesn't focus on the antagonist in advanced of its nose. Kansas State is so abundant faster and added accomplished than Iowa State, but the Wildcats — actuality comprised of 19- and 20-year-old macho associates of the animal breed — didn't comedy faster than the Cyclones on Sept. 6. The Wildcats absolutely looked like a aggregation that had a allotment of its apperception already in Manhattan, Kan., on Thursday, Sept. 18… this Thursday. It's as old as the academy football scriptures: kids attending ahead.
It's accessible to decline KSU afterwards that achievement in Ames, Iowa, but if we, as academy football admirers and chroniclers, accept apparent a "look-ahead" bold a actor times, we've additionally apparent the "all-in" game, back a aggregation treats a regular-season bold like the Rose Bowl and plays several notches aloft its accustomed levels of intensity, with a souped-up playbook and aberrant animation as well. Kansas State could actual able-bodied bear that affectionate of achievement on Thursday, and with this actuality Auburn's aboriginal alley bold of the year, the bearings feels ambiguous for the Tigers.
Terry has hit on the axial key for Auburn: Run to daylight… and victory. If Auburn — or any aggregation in Auburn's position, advancing into America's Breadbasket for a prime-time night action on civic television — can advertise its attendance by active the brawl at will, it can appoint itself on the action and watch its fears cook away. A ascendant arena bold is the absolute way for a alley aggregation to annihilate all doubts adjoin a fired-up adversary. If Auburn can run agrarian in this game, it will win.
However, we're ambidextrous with the angle that Kansas State will bandy its best bite at Auburn, arena at a aerial akin from alpha to end. If there's a affair from the Auburn ancillary about arresting Kansas State's A-game, it should primarily appear on the arresting ancillary of the ball.
Think of the amount this way: Auburn's breach is its foremost strength. The Tigers don't charge to anguish about that basic of this or any game. Their breach is activity to be there on Thursday, abundant as it will adjoin best — if not all — of the SEC. Auburn's botheration lies on defense. The Tigers were challenged in the aboriginal bisected of their SEC opener adjoin Arkansas, and they bare halftime adjustments to achieve down. If Auburn plays as ailing on aegis in the aboriginal bisected of this bold as it did adjoin the Hogs on Aug. 30, Kansas State's Tyler Lockett will apparently accept two touchdowns to his acclaim by halftime. Auburn's breach will accept to max out to win.
We're larboard with a breach verdict: Auburn is accessible to booty Kansas State's best bite on offense. The Tigers' defense? It doesn't assume to be ready, or at the actual least, the adolescent division hasn't accustomed Auburn's aegis to advertise its attendance in a proving-ground situation.
In the end, this bold — as Bart said — is apparently activity to appear bottomward to how able-bodied Jake Waters can play. I'm not assertive Waters will, in fact, max out. However, if he does, Auburn will charge its breach to leave around no credibility on the acreage in adjustment to escape the Little Apple with a victory.