College Football 2020: 5 bold predictions for Week 9 action

1. Gus Malzahn’s seat gets much hotter with a loss to LSU

Both the LSU Tigers (2-2) and the Auburn Tigers (3-2) have experienced rough starts to their season. They are out of the College Football Playoff contention early and they are severely behind in the SEC West.

Much of the blame for LSU’s problem can be traced back to the high amount of turnover of talent and coaches from last season. There aren’t as many excuses for Auburn as it’s just providing minimal success on offense.

Auburn’s offense is ranked 10th in the SEC in points per game (24.4) as it has only converted 47 percent of its third-down attempts (34-of-72). The offensive line has failed to live up to expectations as they have given up 12 sacks in five games.

The LSU Tigers seem like they have recovered some form of their offensive productivity from last year’s national title-winning team thanks to a change at quarterback. LSU had plenty of productivity with T.J. Finley as the starting quarterback and could stick with him going forward.

Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn has been facing some pressure for more consistency in bigger situations. He has a 65-33 record (.663) but a loss to LSU would make his seat much warmer. A loss would make Malzahn 2-6 all time against LSU as Auburn’s head coach. This would also give Auburn their worst start to the season since their 1-2 start in 2016 or 2-2 start in 2015.