Where, when, weather and TV
Where: Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn, Ala.
When: 6:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 23
Weather: Clear with temperatures in the 40s
TV: ESPN (Dave Flemming, Louis Riddick, Kris Budden)
Auburn (4-6, 1-6 SEC) depth chart
No. 15 Texas A&M (8-2, 5-1 SEC)
Injury update
Auburn: WR Caleb Burton and TE Brandon Frazier are out.
Texas A&M: Nickel Tyreek Chappell is out for the year.
Auburn statistical leaders
Passing: Thorne, 156-245 (63.7%), 2,111 yards, 18 TD, 7 INT
Brown, 27-43 (62.8%), 403 yards, 6 TD, 3 INT
Rushing: Hunter, 146 carries, 1,015 yards (7 YPC), 5 TD
Alston, 50 carries, 276 yards (5.5 YPC), 3 TD
Thorne, 91 carries, 203 yards (2.2 YPC), 2 TD
Receiving: Lambert-Smith, 40 catches, 761 yards (19 YPC), 8 TD
Simmons, 34 catches, 412 yards (12.1 YPC), 3 TD
Coleman, 23 catches, 392 yards (17 YPC), 5 TD
Texas A&M statistical leaders
Tackles: York, 55
Brooks, 39
Ratcliffe and Williams, 35
Tackles for loss: Scourton, 14
Turner and Williams, 5.5
York, Brooks and Stewart, 4.5
Interceptions: Ratcliffe, 3
Mayes, 2
Six players with 1
Forced fumbles: Six players with 1
Fumble recoveries: Mayes, Hill and Williams, 1
Head-to-head
What Auburn wants to do
Go fast, run the ball with Hunter and hit some big plays to Lambert-Smith and Coleman.
And, by the way, not shoot themselves in the foot.
Thorne threw five touchdowns last weekend against ULM; he's thrown eight touchdowns and three interceptions in SEC play. But he has two absolute beasts at receiver -- who, if they were on the other side, might be the difference between the Aggies being 8-2 and 10-0.
But Hugh Freeze doesn't fully trust Thorne, so the offense runs through Hunter and Alston first and foremost. Hunter has had an All-SEC season, including a 278-yard performance in Auburn's lone conference win against Kentucky. He's been contained, but not fully stopped, a few times this season. The more he gets the ball, the happier Auburn will be.
Auburn's biggest problems are obvious. They turn the ball over at an incredible rate (19 total, nine in SEC play) and they're terrible in the red zone. They haven't scored more than 24 points in a conference game yet and have only gotten past 20 points one other time.
The Tigers have the ability to move the ball effectively. They also have shown the ability to absolutely self-destruct, something they'll try hard to avoid Saturday.
How the Aggies may counter
They're going to look to win first down. If they do that, things get dicey for Auburn. Tiger quarterbacks have been sacked at least twice in every conference game and have gone down as many as five times (against Arkansas). While their line is solid in the running game, they give up a fair number of tackles for loss and a lot of sacks. The Aggies are elite in forcing tackles for loss and are pretty good at bringing the quarterback down.
That makes it really important to stuff Hunter (or Thorne, if they run RPO) on first down. If they do that, they can pull their ears back and get after Thorne and try to impose their will against the Auburn offensive line.
One thing the Aggies need to do is try to force fumbles. They haven't done that well this year, but the Tigers have fumbled the ball away nine times already this season. If an Auburn player has the ball away from their body, A&M should go for the strip.
A&M must absolutely tackle better than they did in their last conference game. The Aggies got in the South Carolina backfield frequently, but LaNorris Sellers found a way to escape every time. That can't be repeated.
Another thing A&M needs to do is improve their play in the red zone. Auburn stinks when scoring inside the 20, but the Aggies have put out the red carpet for teams when they get in close. If they can continue Auburn's frustrations inside the 20, avoid giving up the big play in the passing a game and can force some turnovers, they should be in a good position.
