SEC Network's Peter Burns on A&M/Auburn, LSU/Alabama

On this week at the SEC Network office…

“Oh, there’s so much trash talk. I had to get a line of credit between all the bets that we have going on between the whole crew and you know, I just got married to an Alabama girl as well. So, she’s a die-hard Alabama fan and obviously I’m born and raised in Baton Rouge. So, yeah it’s been like the Bloods and Crips in our family this whole week. It’s good though. You know the thing that’s kind of funny, is like Greg (McElroy) and some of the Alabama guys we work with, they’re actually picking LSU in this game and it’s funny to have Booger (McFarland) and Marcus (Spears), maybe even myself go in there leaning towards Alabama. It’s like no one wants to piss off the college football gods before this game starts."

On where Finebaum stands…

"Listen, I mean yeah come on. Does somebody that likes Donald Trump vote Republican? Yes. That’s going to be the case (Finebaum picking Alabama). You know exactly who he wants to win this weekend as well too. I would imagine he’s pulling for the Kyler Murray train to continue to have a big ol’ weekend."

On what LSU has to do to win this Saturday…

"Yes. There’s no doubt that Brandon Harris is the X-Factor in this game. I think Brandon Harris is a bigger factor then Leonard Fournette this game. I think if you go back and look at Saban’s nine years with Alabama, there’s only been three running backs that have rushed for over 150 yards. Tre Mason did in ’13, you went and saw Darren McFadden back in ’07. So, there’s just not a lot of success in the guys that are able to run the ball that way. So, I don’t think Leonard Fournette, in fact I think Derrick Henry gets more yards than Fournette this weekend just because I don’t think that LSU defense is the same as it was in ’07 and in 2011 when they had some success.

Now, for Brandon Harris, the best thing that has happened to LSU football is the fact that they brought him along slowly. You know, Jordan Jefferson, Jarrett Lee and Anthony Jennings, those were turnover prone quarterbacks that the Tigers had had over the last couple years. Brandon Harris hasn’t thrown an interception yet. He’s been making smart plays and you have to credit Cam Cameron, the offensive coordinator, for not trying to just unleash him real early. They’ve really built him up this season, built his confidence up and that’s been a huge break for LSU."

On Kyler Murray's second start...

"When Sumlin decided to go with Kyler Murray, they told you everything you need to know about Kyle Allen, if for no other reason for the fact that they knew they were going to be playing a putrid, just horrifically bad South Carolina defense and that Kyler was just going to be able to put up some monster numbers. Then coming in this week, I mean, Will Muschamp’s defense has been a dumpster fire inside of a dumpster fire. That team has just been garbage defensively and it creates a big issue with Murray being able to move the pocket the way that he does.

The bigger question that we have, is when we saw Kyler Murray go in against Arizona State, we saw him against Alabama ... It’s almost as if Spavital did not have a full game plan or quite know the way that they wanted to use Kyler. You know, you can say you want to use a guy in the package, but until you have a set package, and more importantly, until the quarterback that is running that package realizes that it’s a package and not an audition, that’s a different mindset. So, I think it’s going to be interesting to see what Kyler is able to do passing the ball. That’s kind of what we circled in this game. When Carl Lawson, who is now healthy for Auburn, gets a little bit of a pass rush are we going to see run first Kyler or are we going to see a guy that can move the pocket, but can still throw the ball down field. I think that is what I want to see Kyler Murray continue to do to make A&M a national contender."

On Kyler Murray…

"Well, it’s tough. If you are an 18 year-old kid who has never lost a game, you are the “ish” right? You are the man and Kevin Sumlin sits in your living room and says, ‘Hey you’re going to be the future, you can be the next Johnny Manziel, you can be the next star,” and when you get to campus things are a little bit different. It’s not necessarily Kyler’s fault as much as the people around him, as well, going, ‘Hey this is not a cool deal, you should be doing this,’ and all of a sudden teammates start looking at it and the team gets a little bit divided. Listen, these are rich people problems to have with Kevin Sumlin. There’s a lot of guys who would love to have Kyle Allen and Kyler Murray, those type issues, but it’s going to be interesting going forward seeing how they handle it. I think this weekend’s game will pave the road one way of another."

On Myles Garrett's primary competitor for SEC Defensive Player of the Year...

“Kentrell Brothers from Missouri has just been fantastic. I mean, over 100 tackles already, he had a block punt last night even though Missouri, I mean you want to talk about dumpster fires, that offense is just horrifically bad. It’s almost like we have to run a disclaimer on the network, ‘The Missouri offense is coming on, shield your eyes.’ I mean, but Myles is just ridiculous and you have got to give credit to Chief. I mean, what Chavis has done is just not screw up Myles Garrett right? Myles was just so good as a freshman. The question now is how can you continue to use him, because a lot of teams will look at Myles Garrett and say, ‘Okay we’re going to stunt, we’re going to roll protection out a certain way just to protect our quarterback against him.' But what Chavis has done is use that to his advantage and the 26 sacks for the Aggies has been fantastic. That’s a difference maker in this game. I like what Sean White has brought even though he's only had one touchdown pass in I think his four or five starts, but they’ve had a lot of drops. When he’s put under pressure, he’s bad. I mean, his QBR is like 13.1 or something like that when they throw five or more at them. So, I think that’s what Chavis is going to do. I saw it first hand at LSU. He’s going to bring the blitz and that’s going to be really successful."

On his favorite part about the launch of the SEC Network…

"Dude, if I wasn’t working it, I’d would DVR all the shows. Honestly I am just a fan in the middle of SEC football. I remember the first week when we were doing all the introductions and I am sitting in the room and there’s Marcus Spears and you know I’ve drank so much Crown Royal in celebration of his plays before and there’s McElroy who used to beat our face in. Kaylee Hartung is fantastic. I knew Tim Tebow a little bit when I covered him in Denver. I’m like, 'this is life?' I felt like a make-a-wish kid, this is an unbelievable thing. So, it’s been good man and we are just having a blast and I hope it comes across on air like that, because I know that we’re just talking ball and trying to do it in a fun way.

Although real quick, before I let to go. I have to share this story with your listeners. I’m there on my honeymoon in St. Lucia and we are on this random kind of deserted beach, beautiful place, and we meet this couple and she had played soccer for Texas A&M. They got to talking and somehow my wife had said I worked for SEC Network and they were like, ‘Oh we watch that all the time,’ and she goes, ‘Do you know who Billy Liucci is?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah,’ then she goes, ‘ He is a celebrity in College Station!’ and it must have been 15 minutes that I had to go on and hear the Billy Liucci fan club. So, that’s when you know you’ve made it."

On his prediction for A&M-Auburn...

"I’ve got the Aggies, probably by around 10 right now. If it gets into a track meet Muschamp doesn’t have his players in that scheme the way he wants yet and just can’t wait to see. It should be some exciting football and a lot of points scored."