Texas A&M’s season kicks back into high gear following the bye week, as the Aggies host this Auburn Tigers this Saturday. We wanted to find out how the Tiger faithful are feeling heading into Saturday and
for that, we reached out to Nathan King, Auburn beat writer for 247 Sports, to answer a few questions.
Good Bull Hunting: That was a hard-fought loss last week. What would you say is the pulse of the fanbase coming out of it?
Nathan King: Every Auburn fan I’ve talked to in person was encouraged by what they saw on the field — in the sense that their opinion hasn’t changed of this being a quality Auburn team this season. And I tend to agree. But the Tigers’ self-inflicted errors are the biggest cause for concern right now: penalties, missed throws, poor special-teams decisions, etc.
It’s been a bit of a maddening theme for this program under Freeze: Auburn makes progress, but can’t sustain it, thanks to no one but itself. The Tigers haven’t yet learned how to be a team that consistently does what’s needed to win a football game.
GBH: Jackson Arnold is obvious the most talked about addition to the Tigers’ this season. How would you describe his fit in Hugh Freeze’s offense thus far?
NK: I think it’s a good one. His skill set is better than that of Payton Thorne’s, who was a tough-as-nails QB for this team, but was simply limited from an athletic perspective. Furthermore, Arnold’s arm talent and quick decision-making helps him a lot in this RPO system.
Obviously, Arnold had a lot of setbacks against Oklahoma, which is easily the best team Auburn has seen so far this season. Some of those were on him, and some were on the offensive line. All told, he still had a lot of big plays in that game, and I’d expect that to be the case in every game moving forward.
Arnold never needed to be a fully excellent quarterback for Auburn to succeed this season. So far he has limited mistakes and run the offense fairly smoothly. The in-between plays, however — like the pocket presence to evade a strong defensive line, or the inches separating a touchdown to Cam Coleman and an overthrown pass — will determine whether this offense is good or great.
GBH: Are Auburn’s WRs as fun for y’all to watch as they are terrifying for us? Cam Coleman in particular seems like an absolute monster.
NK: Coleman is one of the most absurdly athletic football players I’ve ever seen in person. He is the symbol of hope for Auburn that an elite offense lies within its future. Then there’s Georgia Tech transfer Eric Singleton Jr., who is already up to 22 receptions and is extremely reliable. Malcolm Simmons is a fun change-of-pace player who can make you pay through the air or on some toss sweeps with a full head of steam in the backfield.
Auburn still feels it can put those players in better positions to succeed, though. At Oklahoma, for example, Coleman could have had two long touchdowns if everything broke right; he stopped his route during a miscommunication with Arnold when he was wide open, and then Arnold overthrew him in the third quarter for a sure-fire touchdown. Those plays obviously need to be executed at a higher level, with the obvious note that the Tigers’ offensive line — and Arnold’s ability to make confident throws — plays a large role, too.
GBH: What have the lines looked like for Auburn so far this season, on both offense and defense.
NK: Good, not great on both sides of the ball. The offensive line faced a lot of scrutiny for the nine-sack game at Oklahoma, but there was plenty of blame to go around, including Arnold for holding onto the ball and getting greedy with eyes downfield. But this is, at the end of the day, a quality group for the Tigers up front — one that is much better right in run-blocking than pass-protecting. All-SEC center Connor Lew’s health will be worth monitoring for this one, as he sustained a sprained MCL against Oklahoma.
Auburn’s defensive line has been one of the most consistent units on the team early this season. We knew about the first-round talent of defensive end Keldric Faulk, but former Arkansas State transfer Keyron Crawford could be on his way to a breakout season, already with five tackles for loss and two takeaways. The defensive tackles lack star power but have rotated with efficiency, and can be praised mostly for stuffing the run,
GBH: Beyond Arnold and Coleman, who are the biggest impact players for the Tigers that A&M fans should familiarize themselves with?
NK:: I mentioned Faulk, who is probably the single best player on this team. Xavier Atkins — whom DJ Durkin tried to get to Texas A&M a few years ago before he committed to LSU — has been a major surprise at middle linebacker and is highly active around the line of scrimmage. I’ll be interested to see whether safety Champ Anthony’s snaps increase, as he just returned last week from his broken thumb. He’s a key leader and playmaker for a secondary searching for consistency.
On offense, Singleton is a versatile weapon who I think will take on a bigger role in this game, since reliable third-down target Horatio Fields is out with a broken foot. Jeremiah Cobb is obviously Auburn’s leading rusher, so he’s not going to sneak up on anyone, but the Tigers are much better oiled offensively when he’s stringing together some successful runs.
GBH: While I wouldn’t call this a rivalry, it has certainly been a series where you can often throw the records out the window (with last year’s four-overtime game a prime example). Where do you think the Auburn fanbase’s feeling on the Aggies stand?
NK: For starters, every Auburn fan I’ve spoken to on the subject has nothing but nice things to say about Texas A&M fans. It is generally considered to be one of the more tame and family friendly matchups in the conference, which a lot of Auburn fans appreciate when they make the trip.
On the field, I don’t think Auburn necessarily views the Aggies as different from any other SEC opponent. There have been some wacky games in the series, but at this point, Auburn would just like to be in the same rung of the conference as Texas A&M, which has ascended extremely quickly under Mike Elko. Auburn believes it should always be in the running for the 12-team playoff considering its talent and resources, and the Aggies appear to already be in that position.
GBH: Tell me how you see this game playing out, and if you’re open to it, give us a score prediction.
NK: I tend to agree with Freeze’s assessment that Texas A&M is “more complete” than the Oklahoma team Auburn just saw. But I also think the Tigers aren’t extremely overmatched in any one area. The secondary could be a concern, but they’ve shown an ability to stop the run, and the offense should be bent on getting Arnold in better positions to succeed this week.
That said, this is still a massive challenge for Auburn on the road — one that Freeze’s team has still not proven itself to be ready for. The Baylor win was a nice sign of progress, and I still think Auburn is top-25 good. But in what could certainly be one of the toughest remaining games on the schedule, I don’t see Auburn getting enough stops and keeping pace with an elite offense away from home.
Texas A&M 38, Auburn 28
