UMass vs. Auburn Prediction, Odds, Trends and Key Players for College Football Week 1
By Josh Yourish
It was a great start to the season for the UMass Minutemen and new starting quarterback, Taisun Phommachanh. In Week 0 of Don Brown’s second season they already matched their win total from his first year, an 1-11 2022 campaign.
Despite the upset victory, 41-30 over New Mexico State, they’re big underdogs in Week 1 against the Auburn Tigers.
Our College Football expert Reed Wallach shared his best bets for Week 1 here!
After going 5-7 and 2-6 in the conference play last year, Auburn turned the keys over to Hugh Freeze who gets his second chance in the SEC after a successful, but tumultuous tenure at Ole Miss.
It’s a new look Auburn team and clearly a more competitive UMass roster, but no matter which side you like you can bet on it with this great FanDuel Sportsbook offer.
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UMass vs. Auburn Odds, Spread and Total
Auburn and UMass Betting Trends
- Auburn went 5-6-1 ATS last season
- The over was 8-4 in Auburn’s games in 2022
- UMass is 1-0 ATS
- The over is 1-0 in UMass games
UMass vs. Auburn How to Watch
- Date: Saturday, September 2
- Game Time: 3:30 PM EST
- Venue: Jordan-Hare Stadium
- How to Watch (TV): ESPN
- UMass Record: 1-0
- Auburn Record: 0-0
UMass vs. Auburn Key Players to Watch
UMass
Taisun Phommachanh, QB: A former five-star recruit, Phommachanh transferred to UMass from Georgia Tech after one-year there and previously struggled to find his footing at Clemson. Even at UMass he still may be leaving a lot to be desired as a passer, but he did lead the Minutemen in rushing in Week 0 with 96 yards on 17 carries. He went 10-for-17 for 192 yards through the air and was responsible for nearly all of the team’s offense.
Auburn
Ja’Varrius Johnson, WR: Transfer QB, Payton Thorne will need somebody to throw to and Johnson is back at Auburn for his senior year. Last season he was the team’s leading receiver with 26 catches for 493 yards and three touchdowns. The 5-foot-10 167 lbs speedster averaged 19 yards a catch last year.
UMass vs. Auburn prediction and pick
UMass is clearly a much improved team, but it was also the beneficiaries of some good fortune in Week 0.
New Mexico State turned the ball over three times with two interceptions and a lost fumble. One of those interceptions was returned 55 yards for a touchdown by Isaiah Rutherford. That’s not likely to happen in this one against SEC athletes.
The Minutemen were outgained 458-389 in their season opener and only held on because of the turnovers.
Payton Thorne threw 11 interceptions last season at Michigan State, but he also threw for 19 touchdowns and 2,679 yards on a very bad Spartans team. He’ll be an upgrade for the Tigers over Robby Ashford and it will be interesting to see how he performs in his Auburn debut.
Without Tank Bigsby in the backfield, the Tigers will rely on Jarquez Hunter and Brian Battie to fill that void. This offense ran for over 200 yards a game last season, but it’s going to look very different with a downfield passer like Thorne who is much more limited in the running game.
Ultimately it will be for the better and Auburn will dominate in this matchup. It was interesting to see UMass get a win in Week 0 and look a lot better, but I’m not going to overreact to that for a team that went 1-11 last year and is putting their entire offense on the shoulders of a Georgia Tech castoff.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change