ESPN’s SP+ metric predicts LSU to beat Auburn by a score of 35-26 in Death Valley on Saturday night, with the visiting Tigers covering the -11.5 spread.

LSU enters this game looking for a breather after a wild couple of weeks. The Bayou Bengals narrowly avoided an upset loss to Arkansas before losing a 55-49 thriller against Ole Miss the following week. Then, Brian Kelly’s bunch went into Columbia and took down an upstart Missouri team 49-39 in yet another shootout.

Jayden Daniels and the LSU offense has been firing on all cylinders, having recorded over 500 yards of offense in each of its past three outings. But, the defense has also allowed over 400 yards in each of those games, and the secondary has been much maligned by injury and inexperience.

Fresh off a bye week, Hugh Freeze will be looking to grab a signature year one victory over one of his school’s rivals. Auburn began the year 3-0, headlined by a 14-10 win over Cal in Berkeley. Then, the Tiger offense sputtered in a 27-10 loss to Texas A&M in College Station before Freeze’ bunch took Georgia to the wire the following week.

But, with Auburn appearing to be primed to pull off another Jordan-Hare stunner, Brock Bowers took control of the game with 157 receiving yards and the go-ahead score to win 27-20. Michigan State transfer Payton Throne has struggled at quarterback in recent weeks, allowing former Oregon transfer Robby Ashford to see increased playing time.

The battle of Tigers will take place on Saturday at 7:00 ET on ESPN.