Commonwealth Stadium - Lexington, KY
Kickoff: Thursday, 7:00 p.m. ET
Line: Auburn -2, Total: 51.5

Auburn looks for its first SEC win this season when it visits a strong Kentucky team on Thursday night.

The 3-2 Tigers were able to win their last game on Oct. 3 by a 35-21 margin over San Jose State, but fell to 0-5 ATS by not covering the 21.5-point spread. The Wildcats' only loss in five games this season was to current No. 8-ranked Florida, but they did win and cover their other two SEC contests at South Carolina and at home versus Missouri. They last played on Oct. 3 and fell to 2-3 ATS when they barely beat 27.5-point underdog Eastern Kentucky by a 34-27 score. These schools have met only six times since 1992 with Auburn going 5-1 SU and the schools splitting 3-3 ATS. They last played in 2010 in Lexington, which the Tigers won 37-34 with 521 total yards of offense. Negative betting trends are prevalent for both teams in this contest. In the past two seasons, Auburn is 0-7 ATS after a game going Under the total, and 3-12 ATS in games on grass fields. But Kentucky falls in the category of good home teams (60% to 80% win pct) going 4-23 ATS in the past five seasons where the line is +3 to -3 off a home win and facing a winning school. Home teams are also 19-54 ATS off a home win after the first month of the season in the same timeframe and point-spread range. Despite last week's bye, both schools still have plenty of injury concerns. The Tigers dismissed ultra-talented WR D'haquille Williams from the team and have four questionable players for Thursday in OL Xavier Dampeer (jaw), DB T.J. Davis (knee) and DLs Jaunta'vius Johnson (knee) and Prince Tega Wanogho (leg). Kentucky lost LB Nico Firios (shoulder) for the season and have three players donning a questionable status in top RB Stanley Williams (personal), OT Jordan Swindle (groin) and DE Regie Meant (shoulder).

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Auburn's offense has underachieved all season with only 24.6 PPG and 344 total YPG. In two road games, the club has averaged less than 300 YPG (293.5). Freshman QB Sean White has done a decent job in two games since replacing erratic QB Jeremy Johnson (5 TD, 6 INT). White has completed 68% of his passes with only one interception in his 38 throws. But he has yet to find the end zone and has gained only 47 yards on 15 carries (3.1 YPC). The Tigers have caught just five touchdown passes in five games and WR Ricardo Louis leads the team with 193 yards, but is averaging only 10.2 yards per catch. The running game has been much more effective though with 190 YPG on 4.2 YPC. Sophomore RB Peyton Barber has gained at least 115 yards in four of his five games, including a season-high 147 yards with five touchdowns in the Oct. 3 win over San Jose State. The rock-solid Barber (5-foot-11, 225 pounds) has carried the football 109 times this year and will likely get another 20-to-25 carries on Thursday. Defensively, Auburn hasn't been terrible (25.4 PPG, 412 total YPG), but the run defense has been very shaky with surrendering 210 YPG on 5.2 YPC. Also, opposing quarterbacks are completing 63% of their passes for 202 YPG on 6.1 YPC. The one positive for the Tigers is that the unit forced four turnovers in the last game and is facing a Wildcats team that had three giveaways in their tight win over Eastern Kentucky in their last game.

Kentucky's offense has been solid, but unspectacular, with 26.0 PPG and 366 total YPG this season. The rushing attack started the year with 385 yards in two games, but has only 290 rushing yards (97 YPG) in the past three weeks combined. No. 1 RB Stanley Williams has been dealing with some personal issues and did not play in the last game. Without Williams, the team totaled 55 yards on 36 carries versus Eastern Kentucky, but in his last time out versus Missouri, Williams gained only 21 yards on seven carries. Luckily this is still a quality passing offense with 240 YPG on 7.6 YPA. Junior QB Patrick Towles is coming off a season-high 329 yards when he threw 3 TD and 2 INT. For the season, he has completed 62% of his throws for 1,153 yards (7.4 YPA), but has a subpar ratio of 8 TD and 6 INT. Although he has run for three touchdowns in 2015, Towles has also been running for his life with 16 sacks taken over five starts. He'll continue to rely on his two main targets of sophomore WRs Garrett Johnson (19 rec, 278 yds, 1 TD) and Dorian Baker (24 rec, 276 yds, 3 TD). Johnson hasn't scored since the season opener, but did have 119 yards in the most recent SEC game versus Missouri. Baker had a huge game versus Eastern Kentucky with eight catches for 86 yards and 2 TD and will get plenty of looks on Thursday as well. The Wildcats have allowed only 21.8 PPG and 368 total YPG (5.1 yards per play) this year, but they have given up only 4.2 YPC (171 rushing YPG) and 6.3 YPA (198 passing YPG). The unit has to start forcing mistakes though. After four takeaways in the season opener, Kentucky has only three forced turnovers in the past four games combined.