Texas A&M football opponent first look: Aggies should be extremely wary of Auburn

Despite far superior record, Texas A&M football should watch out for Auburn

Texas A&M football will cruise into Jordan-Hare Stadium this weekend for an evening date with the Auburn Tigers. Hugh Freeze's bunch has not exactly had a banner 2024, as they currently sit at 4-6 overall and are on the brink of elimination from bowl eligibility.

The brink of elimination, though, is not elimination. The Tigers still yet have life, and you can bet that they will fight tooth and nail to keep their season going—especially given that this is their final home game of the year and it's a night kick (thanks, SEC).

There's that obvious point, of course. But it also bears mentioning that this, by all accounts, is no ordinary 4-6 team.

The Tigers are a squad that actually profiles far better than their record would suggest. As a matter of fact, they are all the way up at 20th in the most recent SP+ rankings.

This is mostly on the back of a defense that has managed to play remarkably efficiently. They've had their fair share of busts and issues, but that has been helped absolutely zero by the main problem the Tigers have: the offense.

More specifically, their problem is turnovers. Even more specifically, that problem is Payton Thorne throwing multiple mind-numbingly awful interceptions.

This is a team that breaks math. The indications are that they should be a top-20 squad due to the actual down-to-down quality of the team, but there's just something that does not work—some hitch in the giddyup that keeps causing them to fall flat on their faces.

So, what can we take from that? Well, we can hope that the Tigers continue to play like they have all season and have a higher give-up quotient than normal if the Aggies can come out of the gates quickly. That would be the ideal recipe to get out of dodge with a win.

But if the Tigers decide to un-break math and play up to their potential, this will be a positively treacherous game for the Aggies. This is a defense that is far more successful in down to down efficiency than even South Carolina, who the Aggies struggled mightily against.

A fast start is absolutely imperative in this one. The Ags have to come out of the gates with guns blazing. If not, then we may have the Aggies' SEC championship fate decided even before next week comes.