Texas A&M vs. Auburn: Auburn defeated 27-10

Texas A&M will play host to Auburn on Saturday as the SEC West foes kickoff conference play for the 2023 college football season. Both the Aggies and Tigers come in with some momentum after rolling over nonconference opponents at home in Week 3. Texas A&M defeated ULM while Auburn took care of business against Samford. Now, two teams that finished at the bottom of the division a year ago will go head to head as they each look to garner some momentum early within the conference slate.

For Auburn, 2023 brings a new frontier as the program navigates its first season under coach Hugh Freeze. A proven winner in the SEC during his tenure at Ole Miss from 2012-16, Freeze finds himself looking to reinvigorate a Tigers program coming out of a tumultuous stretch under former coach Bryan Harsin, who was fired last October after less than two seasons on the job. The opening three games of the Freeze era included a 14-10 win at Cal that was far from pretty, but Auburn nonetheless sits 3-0 and is already halfway to bowl eligibility after going 5-7 overall last year with a 2-6 mark in SEC play.

"We just weren't efficient at all in throwing the ball to open receivers when we had them, for whatever reason. It could've been pressure. We'll have to look at all of it to see. We certainly were struggling with that aspect of the game that resulted in a lot of negative plays."

Auburn swiftly took advantage of the Aggies’ late mistakes, returning a 67-yard fumble to make it a two-score game with over 12 minutes remaining. Tigers duel-threat QB Robby Ashford took most of the snaps in the second half, but the Aggie D continued to clamp down outside of several successful runs.

Texas A&M’s defense was great, but Auburn’s offense also showed several moments of weakness in the loss. In the misery, there were several bright spots that deserve light shed on them.

Back on offense, junior running back Amari Daniels’ 79-yard run led to sophomore running back Le’Veon Daniels running it in for a 4-yard touchdown to officially end the game and solidify one of the best second-half turnarounds from the Maroon and White in 2023.

While Conner Weigman’s injury status will likely take much of the oxygen out of the victory, strides were made this afternoon, as Texas A&M’s defense looks to be coming into its own at the right time. On the afternoon, the Aggies passed for 193 yards, rushed for 209 yards for 402 total yards, accumulated seven sacks on defense, 15 tackles for loss, and held Auburn to just 200 offensive yards (56 passing, 144 rushing) on the day.

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 Sarah H

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