AUBURN, Ala. – When Auburn goes to Texas A&M on Saturday, the Tigers will be an underdog for the first time all season. Despite a 3-0 start, they will likely be an underdog in each of their next three games with Georgia and LSU on deck.
Next Game:
at Texas A&M
Sept. 23, 2023
11 a.m. CT
TV: ESPN
Radio: Auburn Sports Network
"We are getting ready to play three teams that have, over the last four-to-five years, ranked in the top seven in recruiting," Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said. "You are playing the best recruits in the nation. We are going to be there soon. That doesn't mean you can't compete. But there is a reason Texas A&M is ranked third in the nation on third-down defense.
"It is a tall challenge for us in Year 1 to stand toe-to-toe with A&M and Georgia next week and LSU the following week. It is our goal to get there. But that is what reality is."
The underdog role is nothing new, however, for several of Auburn's players this year.
Starting center Avery Jones wasn't a five-star recruit coming out of high school. He transferred to Auburn from East Carolina where he played the last three seasons.
"For me, I always think I'm the underdog just because of my background," Jones said. "But that's a great feeling to have. You've got nothing to lose. You want to play your tail off. You want to knock somebody off that people think you can't hang with."
It's no different for fellow OL starters, Dillon Wade and Gunner Britton, who transferred in from Tulsa and Western Kentucky respectively. Auburn has 10 starters listed who signed out of the transfer portal, including eight who came from non-Power 5 schools.
For all 10 players, Saturday will be their first time playing an SEC game.
"We all came here for a reason," Jones said. "It was to play in these types of games and be on this stage and compete against the best."
Auburn and Texas A&M will kick off at 11 a.m. CT from Kyle Field in College Station, Texas. The game will be televised on ESPN with Bob Wischusen, Robert Griffin III and Kris Budden on the call. You can also listen to Andy Burcham, Jason Campbell, Ronnie Brown and Will Herring who will have the radio call on 94.3 FM, online at AuburnTigers.com and on the new Auburn app (Download here).
Three questions with Jack Jalen McLeod
Q: How close are you to 100 percent? How hard is it not being at full strength?
A: I would probably say I'm 85 percent. I'm trying to get it to 100 percent this week. It's been very hard. It's an ankle injury, so it's more nagging. But once I get to 100 percent, nothing is going to stop me. It's going to be electrifying. It's going to bring juice to the defense.
Q: The defense has forced at least two turnovers in each of the first three games. How much has that been a point of emphasis this season?
A: Coach (Ron) Roberts set the standard. 30 takeaways and 40 sacks. If you accomplish that, you're going to be a top five defense. Once he told us that, we looked at each other and were like, "We've got to get there." That motivated us to play faster, play harder, be on our keys more, talk more throughout the game. It started a different mentality in us. We already had a good mentality, but Coach Roberts giving us that standard, it gave us a boost of energy.
Q: What do you remember from playing at Texas A&M before when you went in with Appalachian State last year and pulled off the upset?
A: The crowd. It was my first time playing in front of a big crowd. I wasn't nervous or anything. I saw it as an opportunity for a lot of people to see my talent. The other thing – they thought I wasn't good. And then they realized by the second half, "OK, we've got to chip this guy." My thing going into this year's game is to make sure my presence is known and make sure they know that I got better, bigger, faster, stronger. It's nothing different. I've just got to impose my will.
Inside the Series: Texas A&M
Texas A&M leads the all-time series with Auburn 8-5. The teams first met in Dallas in 1911, a 16-0 Texas A&M victory, and played again in Dallas at the end of the 1985 season when the two schools met in the 1986 Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day.
Since 2012, when Texas A&M joined the SEC, the Tigers and Aggies have played every year. Prior to Auburn's 28-24 win at Jordan-Hare Stadium in 2018, the visiting team had won each of those matchups. Some of the more notable victories came in 2013 when the Tigers beat Johnny Manziel in a shootout and again in 2017 when Auburn scored 28 unanswered points and won 42-27. In both of those seasons, Auburn went on to win the SEC West.
Last year, Auburn beat Texas A&M 13-10 under interim head coach Carnell Williams in one of the more memorable games in Jordan-Hare Stadium in recent memory.
By the Numbers
25: Auburn has won 25 of its last 30 SEC openers, including a 17-14 overtime win over Missouri last season, and is 52-32-5 (.612) all-time. The Tigers are 46-38-6 (.544) all-time in SEC road openers and have won 20 of their last 27 SEC road debuts.
100/200: With 123 yards rushing and 282 yards passing against Samford on Saturday night, Payton Thorne is the first Auburn quarterback since Nick Marshall vs. Mississippi State in 2014 to rush for 100 yards and pass for 200 yards in the same game.
7: Cornerback Jaylin Simpson is one of seven FBS players averaging an interception per game this season. Simpson is the first Tiger with interceptions in three consecutive games since Jerraud Powers did it in 2007 (Tennessee Tech, Georgia and Alabama).
2: The Auburn defense ranks second in the SEC in third down conversion percentage defense (.244; fourth nationally), first down defense (42; 11th nationally) and pass efficiency defense (94.38; ninth nationally). The Tigers lead the nation in red zone defense (.429).