It may get lost in the shuffle with Georgia vs. Alabama, Penn State vs. Oregon, and LSU vs. Ole Miss also on the card, but Saturday afternoon’s tussle between No. 9 Texas A&M (3-0) and Auburn (3-1) is a pivotal moment in the SEC and college football season.
Auburn is coming off a one-score loss at Oklahoma in Week 4, while Texas A&M was on its bye after defeating Notre Dame in Week 3 to get to 3-0.
The win over the Fighting Irish will have College Station buzzing that this could finally be the year that the Aggies make good on the hype.
Just like it was last week against Oklahoma, Auburn is a 6.5-point underdog on the road against the Aggies on Saturday afternoon.
Auburn wasn’t at its best in Norman in Week 4, especially in the trenches, but the fact that the Tigers were hanging around against an electric Oklahoma team was an encouraging sign.
Had a couple of questionable calls gone the other way, we’d be talking about Auburn as a top-10 team right now.
Nonetheless, the Tigers will need to do a better job in front of quarterback Jackson Arnold if they’re going to quiet the 100,000 fans inside Kyle Field on Saturday.
It is a bit surprising that Mike Elko, a defensive-minded coach, has struggled to get the Aggies’ defense to match the output of Marcel Reed and the offense.
With Reed humming, Texas A&M looks like a serious threat to upset the odds in the SEC, but the defense isn’t exactly firing yet.
They can cause havoc, but the Aggies surrendered 24 points to UTSA, 22 to Utah State,and 40 to Notre Dame.
If Arnold has time and is able to convert the big-time throws he missed against Oklahoma, Auburn has every chance of hanging a big number on the Aggies.
Perhaps Reed and A&M prove too much, but this number seems a bit too wide considering what we saw from Auburn in another hostile environment last weekend.
The Play: Auburn +6.5 (-110, FanDuel)
Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.