Auburn vs. Baylor college football betting: Odds, picks, predictions, kickoff time for Week 1 matchup — SkimNews
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- Auburn is a 7.5-point favorite over Baylor with an Over/Under of 58.5 total points, per FanDuel, ahead of a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff in Atlanta.
- Alex Golesh makes his Auburn head coaching debut after Hugh Freeze was dismissed midseason last year, and brought USF quarterback Byrum Brown (3,158 passing yards, 28 TDs; 1,008 rushing yards, 14 TDs) and offensive coordinator Joel Gordon with him.
- Dave Aranda enters his sixth season at Baylor with a sub-.500 career record, deploying former Florida QB D.J. Lagway, whose 16-12 TD-INT ratio the source flags as insufficient for Big 12 contention.
- Both teams finished 5-7 in 2024, and Auburn received three votes in the AP Top 25 preseason poll.
- The SportsLine Projection Model simulates Auburn covering the 7.5-point spread at a 60% rate.
Why it matters: Both Auburn and Baylor are coming off 5-7 seasons, making this opener an early referendum on two coaching staffs under pressure: Golesh must prove his USF offensive formula translates from the American to the SEC, while Aranda, sub-.500 in Waco, needs Lagway to elevate a stagnant Bears attack. The SportsLine model's 60% cover rate for Auburn gives bettors a thin edge on a rematch that could set the tone for both teams' seasons.
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