Mississippi State (5-3, 2-3 SEC) are set to welcome Auburn to town 6:30 Saturday on ESPN2 after a week off.

We talked to Bryan Matthews of Rivals' AuburnSports to get an inside look at Auburn. Here is what Matthews had to say of the Tigers:

With Bryan Harsin out and Cadillac Williams taking over as Interim Head Coach what is the overall energy surrounding the team?

Matthews: The energy has changed with Cadillac. He is a coach this team will rally behind and they should play better Saturday. But AU's biggest problems are talent deficits at key positions like QB, OL, WR and LB. An interim coach can't change that.

Mississippi State has struggled with pressure the past few games. Is that a problem that Auburn can create for the MSU offensive line?

Matthews: I think Derick Hall is a very good pass rusher and perhaps one adjustment Cadillac will make is not dropping him into coverage so much. AU's lost its second-best pass rusher, Eku Leota, to a season-ending injury so they're a little limited there although DE Colby Wooden and sometimes DT Marcus Harris can be disruptive.

Tank Bigsby has been one of the top running backs in the SEC over the past three seasons. What makes him such a special player?

Matthews: Tank Bigsby excels at getting yards after contact and has had a lot of practice doing just that behind one of the SEC's worst OL the past two seasons. Tank has been better the last two weeks and I expect the running attack will be more focused with Cadillac in charge. That will be one of the areas I'm most interested to watch Saturday.

How would you assess Auburn’s performance on the offensive line this season?

Matthews: Horrible. It's gotten slightly better over the last two weeks but remains one of the worst in the league.

What has Auburn’s passing attack looked like this season with Oregon transfer Robby Ashford at quarterback?

Matthews: Robby Ashford played his best game in a loss to Arkansas last week, but a lot of his production came after the Razorbacks took a big lead. Turnovers, both interceptions and fumbles, have been a huge issue with him all season. He didn't have any against Arkansas. We'll see if that's a trend or not this week. The positives with Ashford are his scrambling and running ability. He's an explosive runner and can pick out WRs down the field for big plays when he scrambles.

What are the greatest strengths and weaknesses of this year’s Auburn team?

Matthews: Auburn doesn't have a greatest strength other than maybe punter Oscar Chapman. They've got some talented running backs in Bigsby and Jarquez Hunter and a pretty good secondary. Auburn has been terrible on both sides of the line of scrimmage all season. The QB play has been erratic and this is the worst linebacker play I've seen in my 22 years covering the team.

What are your keys to the game?

Matthews: I guess the keys for Auburn to win would be to run the ball consistently, find a way to pressure MSU's quarterback and win the turnover battle. I don't expect AU to do any of the three but we'll see. I'm picking MSU to win. We publish our score predictions Saturday morning.

And lastly just for fun, who do you predict will be Auburn’s head coach next season?

Matthews: I'd call Lane Kiffin an early favorite but think it's wide open with a long way to go. I wouldn't bet on any candidate right now.