Upset Watch: No. 6 Auburn Tigers trail FCS Jacksonville State Gamecocks

The Auburn Tigers are the No. 6 team in the nation, and they’re playing the No. 6 team in the FCS, the Jacksonville State Gamecocks, but things aren’t looking good for the FBS favorite right now.

The game has been a sloppy, defensive affair so far, with only one touchdown scored. It just happened to be the touchdown that put Jacksonville State up on the heavily favored Tigers 10-6 with just 5:31 remaining in the first half.

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Beyond the score, the thing Auburn has to be seriously concerned about its the pass defense, which has been essentially non-existent so far. The Gamecocks have victimized the Auburn secondary for 182 passing yards, and has seen very little in the way of a pass rush from the Tigers.

New Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp will feel some serious heat if things don’t change in the second half.

On offense, Auburn quarterback Jeremy Johnson‘s struggles against Louisville were shrugged off last week as being early-season jitters against a pretty good defense. But the young Auburn play-caller hasn’t looked much better against an FCS defense, going 11-of-17 for 100 yards and an interception (his fourth in just 6 quarters this season).

The Tigers were only able to amass 152 total yards in the first half, while JSU hung 225 on what is supposed to be a much improved Auburn defense.

This could end up being the first huge upset of the season, and the next in the list of FCS teams who came into the home stadium of an FBS powerhouse and left with a notch in the W column.

I’m not sure anyone expected the Tigers to need another “Miracle at Jordan-Hare” against this JSU team.

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