AU Walks in this one. My model has them winning 38-28. I'm going to hammer AU. Here is why:
Versus 5 common opponents this year
Auburn D ? allowing 5.5 yppl, 369 yds, 26 ppg,
Bama D ? allowing 5.4 yppl, 341 ypg, 20 ppg
Entire Season Bama D is allowing 4.7yppl to teams averaging 5.5 (+0.8)?.AU D allowing 5.2 yppl to teams that average 5.7 yppl (+0.5)?average Offense has 65-70 total plays/game which makes Bama D 21 yards better than Bama (+0.8-+0.5=+0.3 * 70 plays =21yards).
Vs 5 common opponents this year
AU O- 6.9 yppl, 482 ypg, 38 ppg
Bama O- 6.0yppl, 373 ypg, 24 ppg
Entire season
AU O is +1.8yppl (using same approach as D above)?Bama O is +1.2yppl, giving AU O vs Bama O a 42 yards edge.
O vs O and D vs D while interesting doesn?t really matter given the O plays D?AU O has +1.0 yppl edge on Bama D whereas Bama O has +0.6 yppl edge on AU D.
Bama had +3 TO margin when compared to Auburn (largely random and skews the yards per point ratio which explains the 5.4-5.5 yppl, similar total yardage, yet TD differential in ppg.
Bama O projects -0.1 ypr disadvantage rushing compared to a +1.8 ypr edge for the AU O?.Bama Pass O has +1.2 ypa edge compared to AU +1.0ypa.
For those of you who see the above as Sanskrit this equals very good match ups for AU.
That is all.