Five reasons the Auburn Tigers beat the San Jose State Spartans

Here's why Auburn football will beat San Jose State.

The Auburn Tigers will host the San Jose State Spartans this weekend with the goal of going 2-0 before hosting the Penn State Nittany Lions. 

Here are five reasons why the Auburn Tigers will defeat the Spartans. 

Bryan Harsin is familiar with this team

© Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

Coach Harsin is very familiar with San Jose State because of the time he spent in the Mountain West. Harsin's record against the Spartans is 3-1 as a head coach. This gives Auburn an advantage this Saturday because it will allow Auburn to better prepare for San Jose State going into this week. 

Coach Harsin said earlier this week, "I know this team very well, and Coach Brennan does a great job at getting his guys prepared and they do a great job at game planning."

The ground game

Eric Starling/Auburn Daily

Tank Bigsby and Jarquez Hunter complemented each other well against Mercer. The duo in the backfield was unreal in week one combining for five touchdowns and rushing for 181 yards. Auburn established the ground game early last week and this should be a key contributor to beating the Spartans as well.  

Week one is behind us

Eric Starling/Auburn Daily

Auburn had a big win coming out of week one against Mercer. They also had an extensive list of things to improve on as well. Although Auburn beat Mercer, the Tigers must continue to improve if they want to be a competitive team this year. That all starts with San Jose State before playing Penn State in week three. Expect to see Auburn improve in the aspects of the game we did not excel at in week one as this is their last chance to iron out any wrinkles before their first big test this season. 

Quarterback play

Eric Starling/Auburn Daily

Although TJ Finley had a rocky start against Mercer, Coach Harsin stated that he is still the starting quarterback. Other than the two picks thrown, Finley did a respectable job at commanding the offense and putting up decent numbers. Finley had nine completions on 14 attempts he also threw for 112 yards and one touchdown pass. Robby Ashford put on a show as well he had four completions on 7 attempts throwing for 100 yards. He also carried the ball six times for 68 yards, both quarterbacks will be big contributors to Auburn's success this week.  

Auburn's Defense

Alex Keller/Auburn Athletics

Auburn's Defense has things they need to improve on but overall, they played well in week one and we should expect to see that trend continue through the San Jose State game. Cam Riley was announced as the defensive player of the week by Coach Harsin following week one's game. Cam Riley had 15 tackles against the Bears, he will be a big factor in the success of the defense against the Spartans. 

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