Auburn was dominated by the Aggiese defense on the road, dropping their second conference game by a score of 16-10. The Tigers offense looked paralyzed, especially early in the first half finding only one first down through the entire first quarter and only 10 total through entire game. Auburn continued their trend of struggles from last week going 0-for-13 on third downs while getting sacked in several key situations.
Despite the rough showing from the offense, the Tigers defense worked hard to keep them in this game the whole day and did a pretty good job of it. They held Texas A&M to just 16 points on three field goals and one touchdown which came in the first drive. Their defense also kept the potent Aggie offense to just a 3-for-14 mark on third down, coming up time and time again with big stops to keep their team in the game.
“We just focus on doing our job,” Auburn veteran linebacker Robert Woodyard said about the mindset of the defense, “doing what you’re supposed to do. You don’t got to nothing too big like just do your job and everything else will fall in place.”
The biggest play of the game came in the fourth quarter when the Aggies were in opposing territory up by 10 looking to close out the game with right around 11 minutes left. On third and one Auburn linebacker Xavier Atkins intercepted a tipped ball and ran it back to the Texas A&M two-yard line allowing the Auburn offense to get their first touchdown of the game on the following play.
“Man, that changes everything,” Tigers’ defensive lineman Chris Murray said about the affect the interception had. "Not even the defense, the whole environment, the team and gave us some juice, gave us some momentum going forward.”
This game in College Station was inevitably a game which Auburn never deserved to win as they had only 177 total yards compared to Texas A&M’s 414 yards but the Tigers showed extreme resilience in, giving themselves a chance until the final drive which resulted in a game sealing sack on quarterback Jackson Arnold on fourth and one.
There were many opportunities for the Aggies to get a wider lead and try to coast to victory, but penalties affected this game more than be stated. Auburn themselves had 10 penalties for 69 yards but that would be nothing compared to Texas A&M who had 13 total penalties amounting to 119 yards. These penalties included multiple to extend Auburn drives on third and fourth down situations and one that nullified what would have been a game sealing touchdown to put the Marcel Reed and the Aggies up two scores with under three minutes remaining.
“Just keep playing,” head coach Hugh Freeze said following the brutal loss. "The balls will bounce our way soon, and they’ve got to stick together because these are all frustrating. In these times that is one of the biggest challenges is sticking together through difficult losses. But man, these are so close and we’re not that far, and we’ve got to coach better.”
The Tigers will have a chance to respond to yet another gut-wrenching loss on the road as they host the stout Georgia squad following the bye week on Saturday, October 11.
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Reid is a sophomore majoring in accounting. He joined the Plainsman in the fall of 2024.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @ReidFarris2
