Pick’em: Week 13

AUBURN | Each week the AuburnSports.com staff and friends make their predictions on Auburn and top college football games from around the country.

GAMES	J LEE	CALEB	BILL	JAY G
LOU at SMU	SMU	SMU	SMU	SMU
USC at ORE	ORE	ORE	ORE	ORE
TCU at HOU	HOU	HOU	HOU	TCU
PIT at GT	GT	GT	GT	GT
BYU at CIN	BYU	BYU	BYU	BYU
CAL at STAN	CAL	CAL	CAL	CAL
UK at VU	VU	VU	VU	VU
TEN at UF	TEN	TEN	TEN	TEN
MIZ at OKL	OKL	OKL	OKL	OKL
MER at AUB	AUB	AUB	AUB	AUB

JEFFREY LEE (7-3, 65-35)

Auburn 42-13: Auburn, without Ashton Daniels, takes care of business at home. The Tigers gain some momentum and confidence heading into the season finale against the fightin’ DeBoers.

CALEB JONES (9-1, 63-37)

Auburn 44-16: Auburn should handle business here, even though Mercer is one of the best FCS programs in the country right now. This is a great opportunity for Deuce Knight to get some meaningful snaps and for Jackson Arnold to have a little redemption. Play the young guys as much as possible, rest the starters once you can and have everyone ready to roll next week. Durkin will certainly need them. Give me the Tigers.

BILL CAMERON (6-4, 59-41)

Auburn 34-17: The Bears have one of the best teams in the FCS, with a prolific offense and an attacking defense. The Tigers, though, should just be too talented for Mercer, and the home crowd is looking forward to seeing if the offense carries over from the Vandy game with Deuce Knight getting just his second opportunity at playing time this season. The Mercer passing attack should be good prep for next week’s Iron Bowl and the defense needs to get back on track.

JAY G. TATE (7-3, 57-43)

Auburn 35-13: I’m looking forward to seeing what Deuce Knight can cook up against this solid Mercer club. I gave him a hard time after the messy outing against Ball State, but he’s so intriguing in practice, you know? Such an amazing arm. Let’s see if he knows what to do with it after a few more months of seasoning.

GAMES	DAN	JUSTIN	COLE	BMATT
LOU at SMU	SMU	SMU	LOU	SMU
USC at ORE	ORE	ORE	ORE	ORE
TCU at HOU	HOU	HOU	TCU	TCU
PIT at GT	GT	GT	GT	GT
BYU at CIN	BYU	CIN	BYU	BYU
CAL at STAN	CAL	CAL	CAL	CAL
UK at VU	VU	VU	VU	VU
TEN at UF	TEN	UF	TEN	TEN
MIZ at OKL	OKL	OKL	OKL	OKL
MER at AUB	AUB	AUB	AUB	AUB

DAN PECK (9-1, 56-44)

Auburn 45-17: Auburn wins convincingly, setting the stage for a highly dramatic Iron Bowl one week later.

JUSTIN HOKANSON (7-3, 55-45)

Auburn 45-13: The quarterback won’t matter. Auburn will run the ball, use tempo, create big plays, stuff the run, make things difficult for a talented Mercer quarterback, and ultimately take care of business.

COLE PINKSTON (7-3, 53-47)

Auburn 35-10: I think Auburn wins easily, although, I have some respect for Mercer and the young QB there. Still, I think Deuce Knight has a nice game and Auburn’s defense bounces back from the Vanderbilt game. I’d like to see Auburn use some other running backs this week. Let Cobb be fresh for the Iron Bowl. 

BRYAN MATTHEWS (6-4, 51-49)

Auburn 51-21: Looking forward to getting an extended look at Deuce Knight at quarterback and what Auburn’s offense can do with two weeks to prepare. Mercer’s last FBS game was a 52-7 loss to Alabama last fall.