No. 22 Auburn at LSU: Betting trends to watch

No. 22 Auburn has yet to pick up a statement victory this season after falling just eight points short at Penn State, and the Tigers will have the chance to do just that on Saturday against LSU.

Auburn will travel to Death Valley to face the LSU Tigers, and although LSU hasn’t looked special so far this season, it does have an SEC win over Mississippi State — while Auburn has yet to play its first SEC game.

The LSU Tigers are favored by 3.5 points on their own home turf, and the points total is set at 54.5 against Auburn.

Auburn is 0-5 against the spread as an underdog, a streak that dates back to last season, as it hasn’t covered the spread against a favorite since before the Bryan Harsin era. LSU, by comparison, is 4-1 against the spread in its past five conference games, including covers in each of the past three games — most recently, covering the 2.5-point spread in a 28-25 win over Mississippi State last week.

The under has hit in each of the past three meetings between Auburn and LSU, something to keep an eye on this Saturday with 54.5 points setting a high bar.

LSU cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. unlikely to play against Auburn

Derek Stingley, one of the top NFL draft prospects in the 2022 class, is unlikely to play on Saturday against Auburn. Head coach Ed Orgeron said the star cornerback is still dealing with a foot injury.

“I don’t see how he plays,” Orgeron told reporters on Derek Stingley’s status against Auburn, via WAFB reporters Jacques Doucet.

Over two and a half seasons at LSU, Stingley has been named a two-time first-team All-American, two-time first-time All-SEC and was the 2019 SEC Newcomer of the Year. He was also named a preseason All-American for the 2021 season.

The former five-star prospect blossomed into the best cornerbacks in college football, continuing to build on his breakout freshman season in 2019. After finishing his freshman season with 38 tackles, 21 pass deflections and six interceptions on the way to a national championship, teams stopped throwing at him.

In 2020, Stingley played just seven games after missing the season opener due to illness and sitting the final two games with an injury. He finished the season with 27 tackles, five pass deflections and a forced fumble. Despite not registering an interception, Stingley proved a bright spot in an otherwise down year for LSU.

Prior to this season, Stingley was honored with the No. 7 jersey, a tradition started by Patrick Peterson. Over the years, the No. 7 at LSU has been worn by Peterson, Tyrann Mathieu, Leonard Fournette, DJ Chark and Grant Delpit.

The LSU program promised to rebound to its 2019 form. An early loss to UCLA derailed what many hoped the season could become. The Tigers have already lost starting quarterback Max Johnson and other key players since the start of the season.

So far, Stingley has eight tackles and one forced fumble. The foot injury suffered in practice sidelined him against Mississippi State.