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This week in 10 Things for Tuesday, we take a look at this weekend's matchup against Auburn:
1. Don't overlook Auburn or understate the importance of this game.
Texas A&M needs to realize the seriousness of their situation. It’s not a bad situation, or dire — it’s a serious opportunity, but only if you avoid losing to Auburn. A&M has, time after time, blown these opportunities. In their two best seasons in recent memory, 2012 and 2020, A&M went into Auburn and won. This group of Aggies must avoid complacency and overconfidence and go in ready to brawl, like they did at Florida.
2. Hunt the Hunter
The first thing the Aggies need to do against Auburn is slow down RB Jarquez Hunter. Hunter has been a mixed bag in SEC play — he rushed for 67 yards against Arkansas on 12 carries, 97 on 17 against OU and 91 on just 13 carries against Georgia.
But then he had 50 yards on 12 carries against Vandy and 57 on 19 carries against Missouri, which is kind of bleh.
And then there’s what he did against Kentucky: 23 carries, 278 yards and two touchdowns. Kentucky’s defense has been decent against the run this year and he lit them up. So that shows the threat Hunter can be if you don’t play him right.
3. Tackling had better be improved
A&M missed (officially) 22 tackles against South Carolina. They cut that total by more than two-thirds against New Mexico State, missing just seven tackles. They’re going to have to continue that against Auburn, which is certainly a few levels up from NMSU.
4. It may have to be Bussey time
One way or the other, this has to be a big week for Terry Bussey. Whether he’s used as a running back or a wideout or both, his snap number are probably going to go up. He’ll be part of the equation to replace Cyrus Allen, for sure, and after seeing what A&M got out of EJ Smith last week, they need to see if someone can be a more effective backup for Amari Daniels.
5. Another chance for Moose
The guy who will likely benefit most from Allen’s absence is Moose Muhammad, who played 15 snaps against NMSU — which, believe it or not, was tied for his third-highest number of snaps played all year. Muhammad didn’t play the last time A&M visited Auburn, as he was suspended by then-coach Jimbo Fisher for refusing to take off his long sleeves. It would be a pretty ironic and quite the story if he played a big role in helping A&M win this Saturday night.
6. Aggies need to come after Payton Thorne
One thing Auburn does not do well is protect the quarterback. They’ve given up at least two sacks in every SEC game, and that low was in the conference opener against Arkansas. Vanderbilt racked up four sacks as they held Auburn to 7 points, while Kentucky had five.
7. Who wins -- A&M's rush offense or Auburn's rush defense?
This game will be strength on strength in some cases. The Aggies are the nation’s no. 13 rush offense and have not run for less than 134 yards in any conference game. They’ve been over 200 yards three times, and over 300 once. Auburn hasn’t allowed more than 84 yards in any of its last four games — though they gave up 183, 140 and 131 to Arkansas, Georgia and OU. So something has got to give.
8. Run Reed
Auburn doesn’t like a mobile quarterback. Arkansas’ Tyler Green ran for 80 yards and OU’s Michael Hawkins ran for 69 yards on 14 carries with a touchdown. They did a really good job keeping Diego Pavia in check (12 carries, 26 yards), but Marcel Reed is on another level from those guys when it comes to running the ball.
9. One of Auburn's glaring weaknesses
The Tigers fumble. A lot. They’ve lost nine fumbles (and have 10 interceptions) leading to a -9 turnover ratio. The Aggies have been pretty good at picking passes off, but only have three fumble recoveries (and they’ve forced nine). If they’re really going to get separation from Auburn Saturday night, they’re probably going to need to force some turnovers.
10. Force Auburn's offense into a plodding approach
Auburn has excellent wide receivers in Keondre Lambert-Smith and Cam Coleman (both of whom were nearly Aggies). The Tigers tend to move the ball a lot, but don’t score many points. A&M needs to avoid giving up the big play and force Auburn to move the ball slowly down the field. This season, those kinds of drives have given the Tigers an opportunity to shoot themselves in the foot, and they’ve taken advantage of that opportunity.
