NCAA Football

2025-09-27 - Auburn Tigers at Texas A&M Aggies

A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown

Auburn Tigers @ #9 Texas A&M Aggies
United States : College Football Week 5
Saturday 27th September 2025 - Scheduled 3:30pm
8:30pm (British Time)

Preview

There was plenty of controversy attached to the Auburn Tigers (3-1) losing their unbeaten record in a road loss at the Oklahoma Sooners in Week 4, but the team has to move on. The SEC admitted that the officials had made a mistake when allowing a Sooners Touchdown to stand and that will have made the 7 point loss sting, especially for a Head Coach who has had two losing seasons and can ill-afford a third.

Recent years have been tough for Auburn as they have slipped behind the standards of some of the other top schools in the SEC and losing records have become the norm. Hugh Freeze was appointed as Head Coach to turn that around, but he has an 11-14 record in the first two seasons.

There have been things to like about Auburn through the first four weeks of the season, but the loss last week means they need to show immediate recovery powers as they face an opponent that will be targeting a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Texas A&M Aggies (3-0) have an upset win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish under their belt and they are playing for the first time since then.

An opening SEC game is always going to present a new challenge, but the Aggies are at home and there is a feeling that Texas A&M have shown something very positive in winning on the road at Notre Dame. Head Coach Mike Elko is trying to keep things in perspective by pointing out the team are 0-0 in SEC play this season, but the Aggies have been noted with a move into the top ten of the early Rankings.

This is the first of three consecutive home Conference games and the experienced Aggies should have taken full advantage of the Bye Week by focusing on the tape from the Oklahoma win over Auburn.

The key will be up front as the Aggies Defensive Line looks to control the Line of Scrimmage and clamp down on the Auburn rushing attack- this is a team that only allowed 3.5 yards per carry on the season last year and Texas A&M have picked up from where they left off with a strong beginning to this campaign.

Slowing down the run and forcing Jackson Arnold to beat them with his arm will be seen as a big win for the Aggies, especially when you factor in the pass protection issues that were on display in the loss to the Sooners. Some of that has been put on the Quarter Back, but the Offensive Line should take a fair portion of the blame for the Sacks racking up and now they have to deal with a very productive Texas A&M pass rush.

Issues in pass protection have limited the numbers that Jackson Arnold has been able to produce, although there has to be some credit for the fact that the Quarter Back has yet to throw an Interception, despite the pressure being put on him.

Even then, it looks like it will be another difficult day moving the ball with any consistency and that will put the pressure on the Tigers Defensive unit.

There hasn't been much going wrong for the Aggies Offensive plans early in the season, although they may feel that this is the toughest Defensive unit they will have to face.

Both teams will be well aware of the battle at the Line of Scrimmage- last season the Aggies finished second in the SEC in terms of rushing yards per game, and they have begun this season with strong ground numbers, but they are facing an Auburn Defensive Line that prides itself on being able to slow the run. In 2024 the Tigers only allowed 3 yards per carry, and they limited the Sooners to just 35 ground yards last season with this Line looking even tougher this season.

You know that neither will want to take a backwards step and so there will be plenty of runs called by the home team to try and break through, while Quarter Back Marcel Reed is capable of moving the ball with his legs.

However, it is the arm that has been impressing through three games and Marcel Reed has one edge over Jackson Arnold and that is he is playing behind an Offensive Line that has offered him time in the pocket. Keeping the Auburn pass rush at bay will be a challenge, but Reed is also going to have noted some of the holes that have been evident in the Tigers Secondary and he is going to have talented Receivers finding a way to get open and give the home team an opportunity to move the chains.

This is where the Aggies may end up having the edge and they can earn revenge for the very narrow defeat to Auburn at the back end of the 2024 season.

It was a dramatic game won in a Fourth Overtime, while the Tigers had pushed the game into Overtime by scoring a Field Goal with 5 seconds remaining in regulation.

This will not have been forgotten by the Aggies, who have a 6-0 record against the spread when set as Conference favourites of less than 16 points and with the revenge angle on their side.

Auburn have bounced back from defeats pretty well against the spread under Head Coach Hugh Freeze, but they are 0-5 against the spread when facing an opponent playing with revenge and the Texas A&M Aggies can display they are a serious Playoff contender with a solid home win in Week 5 of the season as the SEC schedule gets underway at College Station.