The Auburn Tigers are a 4-point favorite heading into the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee. Their opponent is the Purdue Boilermakers, who made national headlines earlier this season with a shocking, dominant win over Ohio State – a loss that helped keep the Buckeyes out of the College Football Playoff. The total is set at 55 for the Friday afternoon game at Nissan Stadium.
- Purdue QB David Blough is 10th in the nation with 3,521 passing yards.
- Auburn won the 2003 Music City Bowl 28-14 vs Wisconsin.
- Purdue beat three Top 25 teams this season: Ohio State, Boston College and Iowa.
Auburn vs Purdue Music City Bowl Game Center
Redemption Opportunity for Stidham
With one of the most impressive quarterbacks in the country on the other sideline, Auburn signal-caller Jarrett Stidham has a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of NFL scouts after a junior year letdown.
Optimism was high for the six-foot-three quarterback from Stephenville, Texas after he passed for 3,158 yards and 18 touchdowns as a sophomore. This season, Stidham got over 200 yards passing in just five of 12 games and never had more than two passing touchdowns in a game.
Purdue comes to Nashville with the No. 123 pass defense, so Stidham could very well have his best day of the year in his final game.
Blough Will Welcome the Challenge
David Blough put up 3,521 yards passing and 25 touchdowns in the Big Ten, making him one of the top-ranked quarterbacks in the country. The senior from Carrollton, Texas will be auditioning for a job next season at the professional level against the next best thing to a pro defense – an SEC defense.
Auburn has the No. 18 scoring defense in the FBS, allowing just 19.6 points per game. Teams were able to pass for an average of 222.4 yards per game vs the Tigers.
Don’t sleep on the Purdue ground attack, though, as DJ Knox added 868 rushing yards this season, supplemented by Markell Jones’ 502, leading to Purdue having the 24th-highest yards per game in the nation at 459.
My Best Pick for This Game
A pass-heavy bowl game with a total at 55? Sign me up for OVER 55 points in this one. College football fans know that two pass-first offenses lead to plenty of yards, plenty of points and plenty of plays – allowing the opportunity for an OVER bet to cash.
There’s always the feeling-out period before defenses get comfortable with their opposition in a bowl game and these schools have never faced each other before. I expect lots of scoring early before this game settles into a rhythm.
