Heads up, Texas A&M and Alabama. You’re feeling pretty fine right now, but Auburn is lurking. And Auburn can destroy your entire year.
Psychologists will tell you it’s unhealthy to wish ill upon others when you’re going through tough times of your own. But psychologists don’t know ball. Sometimes the best way to survive being down in a hole is to drag someone in with you. And wow, is Auburn good at annihilating other teams’ dreams.
Texas A&M is up first, and the early signs are not encouraging for the Aggies. Midweek coach news conferences are generally dull affairs, tepid sessions where the coach praises his opponent and declares how hard his boys will need to work to get the win. It’s all deliberately lukewarm; no sense in making any news or giving any motivation to the opposition.
So it came as a bit of a surprise when A&M coach Mike Elko committed the press conference equivalent of running backwards out of his own end zone earlier this week. A&M (8-2) has just one conference loss on the season, and is one win away from playing for a berth in the SEC championship. Only one opponent still stands in their way: this weekend’s opponent, little ol’ Auburn.
This has all the makings of a classic Trap Game. When asked how his team would avoid overlooking Auburn, Elko didn’t exactly stick the landing.
“I don’t think it’s an issue, when you are in the situation we are in, it is easy to focus on the task at hand,” he said. “Those big games earlier in the year, maybe you look ahead. If we didn’t have at stake what’s at stake, maybe you would worry about it. I think our focus is single-handedly on Texas … I mean, Auburn.”
Look, it’s understandable. Auburn (4-5, 1-5 conference) has been nothing short of a disaster this season. Quarterback issues, defensive inconsistency, failure to maintain 60 minutes of intensity, a total disconnect between head coach Hugh Freeze and his players … it’s safe to say this isn’t what the powers that be on The Plains had in mind when they kicked Bryan Harsin to the curb back in 2022 and sought out a more proven coach.
Auburn has to win both of its final two games, against the Aggies and the Tide, to even be bowl eligible. Meanwhile, both Texas A&M and Alabama have to win to preserve their hopes for a College Football Playoff berth. There’s a bit of difference in seasonal outcomes there, but not in motivation; ruining someone else’s year is a fine way to cap off your own on a high note.
“There’s no question that they’re playing with a championship mentality and effort,” Freeze said earlier this week.
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Freeze indicated that Auburn will have a challenge moving the ball against A&M’s defense and containing mobile Aggie quarterback Marcel Reed. (Freeze has no problem throwing out de-motivational slogans for his own squad.) A&M is a 2.5-point favorite in Auburn. The schools don’t have a long history against one another; they’ve only played 14 times, with 12 of those coming since A&M joined the SEC.
However the A&M game turns out, though, Auburn still has a bigger prize awaiting. Depending on how you feel about Army-Navy or Ohio State-Michigan, the Iron Bowl is arguably the biggest, most unpredictable rivalry in college football, and the run-up to next week’s game will be a whole lot more nerve-wracking for the Tide than the Tigers.
Worth noting, though: Auburn is five points and two plays from being 2-1 against Alabama over their last three games. Only a four-overtime, Bryce Young-engineered victory in 2021 and Gravedigger last year saved the Tide … and in both cases, Alabama was ranked in the top 10 and Auburn was unranked. Guess where the two teams stand in the rankings this year?
So, yes, while Texas A&M and Alabama have their eyes on postseason play, they’ll need to watch their step before then. The Tigers are lurking, and whether or not you’re overlooking them, they’re definitely looking straight at you.
