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SEC Kickoff: Everything you need to know about Texas A&M at Auburn

Jordan Cox

By Jordan Cox

Published:

Here’s everything you need to know about Texas A&M at Auburn.

When: Today
Where: Auburn, Ala.
Game Time: 3:30 p.m. EST
TV: CBS
Current Line: Auburn (-23)

Game Buzz: Texas A&M limps into Auburn a huge underdog after a week in which Kevin Sumlin and the Aggies were under fire after a close win over Louisiana-Monroe. Auburn survived at Ole Miss last week, and now returns home for its final SEC game of the 2014 season. Will A&M being able to tackle? Can Auburn continue its torrid pace running the football? At the beginning of the season, this was a marquee matchup in the SEC, but after the Aggies’ struggles, they only hope to keep it close.

SATURDAY DOWN SOUTH PREVIEWS

NO. 3 AUBURN TIGERS

Players To Watch:

  • QB Nick Marshall
  • RB Cameron Artis-Payne
  • WR D’haquille Williams
  • WR Sammie Coates
  • DL DaVonte Lambert
  • LB Kris Frost

Keys For Auburn:

  • Attack A&M’s run defense. To say the Aggies’ ability to stop the run has been anything short of abysmal would be an understatement. Auburn is finally hitting its stride on the ground, and now faces an A&M defensive front that has struggled all season long. Run it until A&M can stop it, Auburn.
  • Shut down Kyle Allen. The true freshman is making his first road and SEC start inside Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Auburn’s defense in its last three games has been poor. The Tigers need to feast on Allen, creating pressure and forcing turnovers. After a pretty good start to the season, can the Auburn defense get back on track?
  • Take care of business. The Tigers are 2-0 thus far in a crucial stretch of their schedule. Gus Mazlahn’s team enter as big favorites and need to play well and dominate a struggling Texas A&M team. Win today, and then begin to look to Georgia.

Glaring weakness to watch: Its edge pass rushers. The Tigers are stout in the middle of its defense, but have not found players to occupy the edge since losing Dee Ford to the NFL and Carl Lawson to an ACL injury. Can the front four create pressure on Allen against a Texas A&M offensive line that features a couple NFL prospects?

Most interesting part of the game: How convincing are the Tigers? Not many expect Texas A&M to pull off the upset with a true freshman making his first SEC start on the road. Does Auburn dominate? The College Football Playoff committee has not put as much emphasis on style points, but could Auburn slip if the game’s close?

Team buzz: Auburn is playing its best football of the season, and keeps finding ways to win. Nick Marshall is playing at a Heisman-caliber level, while the defense looks to improve this week against a struggling Texas A&M offense.

TEXAS A&M AGGIES

Players To Watch:

  • QB Kyle Allen
  • RB Brandon Williams
  • RB Tra Carson
  • WR Speedy Noil
  • WR Malcome Kennedy
  • LT Cedric Ogbuehi
  • DE Myles Garrett
  • LB Jordan Mastrogiovanni
  • CB Deshazor Everett

Keys For Texas A&M:

  • Protect Kyle Allen.  The Aggies offensive line has been in rough shape for the last few weeks, and they didn’t catch any breaks when they lost right tackle Germain Ifedi to a sprained knee. While Allen is a more mobile quarterback than Kenny Hill, both of his turnovers a week ago came when he had pressure one him. Making sure Allen has time to throw — not as daunting a task against Auburn’s pass rush as it is against the other SEC teams that have smoked A&M recently — will be imperative to keeping this close.
  • Establish the running game. Going hand in hand with protecting Allen is putting together a run game to take the pressure off of the signal caller. Tra Carson and Brandon Williams both showed flashes last week, but the Aggies didn’t run the ball with any consistency until they were trying to put a too-close-for-comfort game away last week. Getting some quick-hitting runs going on the ground still fits into what the Aggies want to do offensively, and it’ll help make life easier for the freshman quarterback making his first road start if he doesn’t have to drop back every down from the start of the game.
  • Tackle well. This is going to be a major challenge for a defensively challenged Aggies team. Texas A&M has trouble stopping the run at all levels of the defense, with a defensive line that doesn’t contain the run, a linebacking corps that doesn’t swarm to the ball like it should and a secondary that whiffs on a lot of tackles. With the way Nick Marshall and Cameron Artis-Payne are going to jam the ball down Texas A&M’s throats, A&M could be in a world of trouble.

Glaring weakness to watch: The entire defense. The Aggies were the league’s worst defense a year ago, and they are improved in some areas. They still rank at or near the bottom of all major defensive categories. Auburn’s potent spread, hurry-up zone-read offense is starting to hit its stride, and A&M is going to be stretched to the seams trying to stop it.

Most interesting part of the game: How will Kyle Allen play on the road? Jordan-Hare Stadium is one of the best venues in the SEC, and it’s not the ideal place for a freshman to make his first road start. The Tigers already wrecked one SEC freshman’s road debut (LSU’s Brandon Harris), and Allen will have to play a strong game to keep the Aggies in it.

Team buzz: After early-season hype as a possible College Football Playoff contender, the Aggies are simply trying to avoid SEC embarrassment this season. They’ve lost their last three SEC contests by a combined 91 points. They’re heavy underdogs again, and it would be a moral victory for a young team to keep this one close.

Jordan Cox

After living in Birmingham, Ala., Jordan left the ground zero of SEC Nation to head south to Florida to tell the unique stories of the renowned tradition of SEC football. In his free time, his mission is to find the best locales around.

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