Auburn Will Remain Top Dog Against Tennessee
Tennessee vs. Auburn, 8:30 ET
Tennessee vs. Auburn, 8:30 ET
Saturday always belongs to the college ranks. For months, we get games between teams on the grid iron that make us lock in every Saturday afternoon until late in the day. Then the hardwood comes into play and we start seeing the basketball play the same day. Then after the National Championship, that happened on Monday, we now just have basketball, but it still lasts all day long. I'm pumped for this one, even though we have to wait until tonight to get this great one between Tennessee and Auburn.
Tennessee comes into this game with a strong 17-2 record and they are currently ranked sixth in the nation. They've done a decent enough job in the conference, but they are 4-2, not at the top and behind Florida, Alabama, and tonight's opponent, Auburn. They've already faced Florida and they dropped that game by a ton, losing by 30 on the road. The other loss came two games ago as they fell to Vanderbilt. That was a much closer contest, losing that game by just one point. They had a chance to tie the game as Chaz Lanier was at the free throw line and actually hit the harder of the two free throws. He hit the first and then missed the second. They didn't deserve to win the game though as they were down the entire second half and were down by 10 or more for most of the second half. This is a good team, but the road environment is definitely one that they struggle with. I was wrong about the total in their last game, but I was correct that they came back and put together a good performance. This is a tough matchup for them (and basically everyone in the nation).

Tennessee's Rick Barnes pulled Chaz Lanier from game after not doing what 'he's paid to do' (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)
Auburn is easily the best team in the country and they have been for the majority of the season. They are 17-1 and are 5-0 in the conference. Their one loss was at Duke, also one of the better teams in the country. In that game Auburn had to go on the road for the first time, right after their Thanksgiving tournament so it might've been more of a bad spot than a truly poor performance. In fact, they lost by six points, which isn't great, but not terrible either. The thing is, winning on the road is tough in college. But, in order to win the National Championship, it isn't about winning on the road, it is about winning on a neutral court. This team has won every neutral court game and has beaten Houston, Iowa State, North Carolina, Memphis, Ohio State, and Purdue. There are a lot of ranked teams they will face coming up, but I think they have the edge in almost all of them and the next big test will be February 15th against Alabama at Alabama. The team has a bit of everything, but is truly led by Johni Broome. He hasn't led the team in scoring in any of the past three games, which actually is encouraging for the team, but he has done it in 11 of the 18 games.
I'm not sure that I want to embrace the total in this game. I feel like Tennessee is capable of scoring 75 in this one or being held to 55. It is too wide of a range of outcomes to really feel confident one way or another about the total. Instead, I think Auburn crushes Tennessee here. Auburn is too good and has good edges in this game. Plus, them being at home makes me think they should cover this spread with relative ease. Back the Tigers to get the win here.
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