When Auburn faces No. 17 Texas A&M on Saturday night, the Tigers have a chance to gain early season momentum with a winning start in conference play. The challenge for Auburn will be slowing down Texas A&M's high-octane offensive attack.
“As far as this week, this is a monumental challenge because it’s in the SEC," Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele said. "It's the first SEC game."
Texas A&M's offense is led by quarterback Trevor Knight, a transfer from Oklahoma who led the Sooners to an upset of Alabama in the 2014 Sugar Bowl.
Knight's skill set is a cause for concern for Steele, especially since Steele has faced him before. Steele was on Alabama's staff when Knight torched the Tide, though he joked that he can't "remember that far back."
"They have a very, very good quarterback who has played in big games, albeit at another school," Steele said. "I guess UCLA was a big game for A&M in their opener, but he’s got more than that under his belt. He’s a very efficient passer and a very efficient runner."
Knight has a bevy of explosive receivers to work with, including Christian Kirk, Speedy Noil, Josh Reynolds and Ricky Seals-Jones. Their talent has not gone unnoticed by Steele.
"They’re a very, very impressive group," Steele said. "I don’t know how you could put together four or five guys that present any more problems than they do.”
Texas A&M's receivers each have different skill sets, which Steele believes makes them harder to defend.
“The analogy is that they’re kind of built like a basketball team," Steele said. "They’ve got a point guard, a shooting guard, a post player, they’ve got it all. They didn’t get them all alike. They got them all and they utilize that.”
Auburn's first two games of the season came against teams that run up-tempo spread offenses (Clemson and Arkansas State), but Steele believes that doesn't prepare the defense to face the Aggies as much as many might think.
“This is a little different offense," Steele said. "This offense is four-wide based, not three-wide based, so it’s a little bit different in terms of the presentation of what they do and how they do it.”
The Aggies athleticism and schematics provide several challenges for the Tigers.
“They’re what we call a big RPO team: Run-Pass Option," Steele said. "They could give a play-action fake and have routes on one side and a screen on the other. You’ve got to be able to execute to the right, to the left, and be sound in the middle.”
Despite all of the challenges awaiting his unit, Steele embraces the task of facing such an explosive offense.
"They have a lot of skill and they’re massive on the offensive line, so the challenge is going to be huge," Steele said. "It’s a huge challenge, but hey, that’s why we play in the SEC.”
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