Saturday I asked myself “Could it honestly get any worst for Texas A&M at this point?” And after watching a team that was once ranked 6th in the country preseason lose their 6th straight game against the Auburn Tigers 13-10, all that could happen now to actually make things worse would be a loss to 1-9 UMass next weekend.
The Aggies came into the matchup versus Auburn with a decent amount of confidence, believing that freshman quarterback Conner Weigman, who missed last weekend’s game due to the flu could get the offense back on track against a Tiger’s defense that had been vulnerable in pass defense.
But on Friday night, it was announced that star running back Devon Achane would miss his first game of the season due to a nagging foot injury sustained against the Florida Gators, leaving a giant hole in the offense, and making things just that much tougher on the young signal caller.
Entering the game, due to poor offensive line play (which has been a trend all season) combined with the sudden disappearance of wide receiver Moose Muhammad III, who was later deemed unavailable due to improper game-day sleeves, the offense could never get into a rhythm, while actually having negative yardage in the 3rd quarter alone. The Aggie defense was once again horrific in run defense, allowing 270 yards rushing on the night, though they did force 3 turnovers in the game while providing good field passion for the offense, who couldn’t take advantage.
What’s more alarming about the loss is Tiger’s quarterback Robby Ashford’s stat line, who threw for 60 yards for 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions, which on any given Saturday should result in a loss, but against Texas A&M this season, anything is possible. The Aggie offense finally showed some life in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 points, and Weigman threw a strike in the endzone to wide receiver Jalen Preston plus a Randy Bond field goal, giving themselves at least a chance to win or tie after an onside kick tries with a minute left, which was unsuccessful, falling 13-10.
Tough times in Aggieland as the team drops to 3-7, and 1-6 in the SEC, as two games remain to hopefully answer any of the dozen lingering questions surrounding the program. With that, here are 5 things we learned from Texas A&M’s loss to Auburn.