SEC Preview: Auburn at Texas A&M, What to Watch For

The College Football Playoff’s first rankings were released last Tuesday. Judging by how this season has played out, deciding the final four teams is going to be beyond challenging for the committee.

In week 10 of college football there are 11 unbeaten teams left. Good luck, committee.

However, when considering Texas A&M and Auburn, they probably are not going to be factor in making the college football playoffs. But, this Saturday’s matchup between both teams is worth a watch.

While, Texas A&M suffered two losses against two great opponents (Alabama, and Ole Miss), this Kevin Sumlin led squad can turn things around this season. Auburn, on the other hand is going to need to take advantage of changes Texas A&M has made to their team mid-season to add a win to their record.

Texas A&M Needs Consistent QB Play

As cliché as it might sound by now for Texas A&M to hear this, but Texas A&M needs their quarterback play to stay reliable. Texas A&M had to make a midseason change at the position when Kyle Allen went from putting up solid production, to being one of the main reasons Texas A&M offense stalled out.

Against Ole’ Miss an Allen led offense scored three points. Also, Allen threw four interceptions and one touchdown during a two game stretch.

True freshman Kyler Murray might have the answers to help the Texas A&M offense, which is ranked seventh in the SEC in scoring offense. He played stellar during his latest start against South Carolina.

Agies head coach Kevin Sumlin says he’s seen this from Murray before. 

Murray complete 20 of 28 passes, and threw for 223 yards and rushed for 156 yards. Murray also finished with two touchdowns.

Kyler Murray | #TheOpening CFB Alum POW candidate

Pass: 223 yards, 1 TD
Rush: 156 yards, 1 TD#GigEm pic.twitter.com/2Eih1rwfQx

— ALL22 (@TheOpening) November 2, 2015

Murray was tearing through South Carolina’s defense.

Even Auburn’s head coach says he’s impressed by Murray’s skills.

Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn.

Murray could seriously be the future for Texas A&M. Murray is extremely athletic, and has the ability to elude some of the best defenses in the SEC week after week.

I wouldn’t be shocked if Murray has a breakout game against Auburn, and leads the Aggies to their seventh win of the season. Which leads me to my next point, this time about Auburn.

Once again, Auburn’s Defense needs to step it up

Auburn is dead last in scoring defense in the SEC, 12^th in rushing defense, and 13^th in passing defense. In a nutshell, they’re awful on defense. To add, Auburn will have to face a revitalized Texas A&M offense.

We saw what happened last time the #Auburn defense decided to downplay their opponent's star player https://t.co/sLWVI6r6tc

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) October 27, 2015

Heisman front runner Leonard Fournette killed Auburn’s defense. Could we expect the same to happen on this Satuday?

Muschamp’s defense is going to face off against a quarterback they have very little film on. If Auburn is going to win Saturday, they’re going to have to contain and put serious amounts of pressure on Murray, which is an obvious strategy. Anything else will not cut it.

I expect this to be an interesting game, and one that any SEC football fan should watch out for.

Game time is set for 7:30 PM on Saturday.