Auburn Tigers @ Alabama Crimson Tide Friday NCAA Football Pick

Auburn Tigers @ Alabama Crimson Tide Friday NCAA Football Pick: I’m not just taking the higher ranked team here, I promise. In fact, I have a trend that I tend to follow where you always take the lower ranked team if they are favored. Well, the Crimson Tide fit perfectly into that trend. I’m taking the Tigers to buck that trend because I think the match-up between these two powerhouses really favors the Tigers.

The Tide have played tough football this year, no doubt, they are a good team but they’ve struggled against teams that can really run the football. Look at their schedule this year you’ll see that South Carolina out-rushed the Tide by 74 yards. You’ll also see that LSU out-rushed the Tide by 123 yards. You’ll notice, if you look closely, that Alabama has two losses on the season – they just happen to be losses to LSU and South Carolina. Ole Miss out-rushed the Tide as well, but the Rebels haven’t been as consistent scoring the football or stopping it.

The thing that both LSU and South Carolina have that Auburn doesn’t is a really solid defense that stops the run well. But I don’t know if Auburn needs that. You’ll be hard pressed to find an offense that can put up points like the Tigers, and I don’t think there’s a better college football player on the planet than Cam Newton. Special players play special in big games, and I think Newton will put his mark on this one.

Two good teams, but Auburn’s rushing attack wins out.

#2 Auburn Tigers (+4.5) @ #11 Alabama Crimson Tide (Fri)