Auburn vs Northwestern 1/1/21 - College Football Picks & Predictions

The Auburn Tigers play the No. 14 ranked Northwestern Wildcats on Friday January 1st in the Citrus Bowl at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. Auburn finished the regular season 6-4 overall and was third in the West division of the SEC. The Tigers fired head coach Gus Malzahn shortly after the end of the regular season and have hired Bryan Harsin, who was the head coach of Boise State, as their new head coach. Auburn ended its regular season with a 24-10 victory over Mississippi State.

Bo Nix passed for 2,123 yards with 11 touchdowns, seven interceptions and was sacked 20 times. The leading rusher during the regular season for Auburn was Tank Bigsby with 834 yards and five touchdowns, while the leading receiver was Seth Williams with 688 yards and four touchdown receptions. On defense, linebacker Zakoby McClain was the leading tackler with 102 and linebacker Colby Wooden was the leader in quarterback sacks with 4.0.

Northwestern finished its regular season 6-2 overall and 6-1 in the Big Ten. The Wildcats finished first in the West division of the conference and were defeated by Ohio State 22-10 in the Big Ten championship game. The only other loss suffered by Northwestern was to Michigan State 29-20. In the loss to Ohio State, Peyton Ramsey threw for 224 yards but was intercepted twice.

Peyton Ramsey passed for 1,442 yards with nine touchdowns, eight interceptions and was sacked 11 times. The leading rusher during the season for Northwestern was Drake Anderson with 256 yards and two touchdowns, while the leading receiver was Ramaud Chiaokhia-Bowman with 447 yards and four touchdown receptions. On defense, linebacker Paddy Fisher was the leading tackler with 74 and defensive lineman Eku Leota was the leader in quarterback sacks with 4.0.