The Auburn Tigers (5-3) face a Texas A&M (6-1) side that is as hot as any in the country as they try to rebound from their disappointing Iron Bowl performance last time out. Here are the three keys to an Auburn victory.
By Steve Wright
Find something that works offensively
The reason that the Aggies have been so impressive this year is that they do all the little things right. Their 20-7 win over LSU last weekend doesn’t sound that impressive until you realize they held the Tigers to just 267 total yards, forced them to go 2-of-16 on third down, and held the ball for 33:32 of the contest. Auburn needs to get the running game going but with Tank Bigsby – and his 566 yards for five touchdowns – out with a hip injury that might be a problem. Bo Nix was sacked three times and threw a couple of picks against ‘Bama. That can’t happen here.
Stop Isaiah Spiller
Kellen Mond has been up and down this season and he was awful against LSU. He was 11-of-34 through the air for just 105 yards. This was easily the low point for Mond on the season and his 16:2 ratio of touchdowns to interceptions shows that even with a bad day he doesn’t make costly mistakes. Spiller is the player in form on this offense. He went for 141 yards on the ground as Texas A&M chewed up clock. He has 784 yards and six touchdowns on the season while carrying a 6.0 yards per carry average. Stopping Spiller will force Mond to have to win the game.
Be on the right side of explosion
Alabama had three touchdowns last week that went for 39 or more yards. Auburn had just three plays in the first half of the same game that went for 10 or more yards. It is hard to win football games when having to sustain long drives every single time you need to score. This is especially true against an A&M team among the best on the country at stopping teams on third down. Find an explosive play or five and Auburn has a shot here.
Saturday‘s game kicks off at 11:00 AM CT (12:00 PM ET). You can watch this Auburn football game on the ESPN Network.
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