How Auburn’s offense might struggle if it falls behind versus Texas A&M

Auburn is entering its first SEC matchup of the season versus Texas A&M with a 3-0 record but it has been a very uneven few weeks. The Tigers dominated their two non-conference opponents but Cal kept it close in the Golden State as Auburn emerged with only a 14-10 win.

On3 College Football Analyst Clark Brooks hopped on the Andy Staples podcast Tuesday to talk with the host of the show, and the two discussed the matchup Tigers offense against the Aggies defense.

Brooks had very mixed reviews for the Auburn offense.

“Hugh Freeze, I’m not a big fan of this passing offense right now,” Brooks said. “It’s really rudimentary. I have called it a high school offense on Twitter. They’ve done very little to try and change that narrative. But, I will say, I immensely respect (that) they’re all-in utilizing vertical RPO. RPOs: they can be mobile screens, they can be tunnel screens, stuff behind the line of scrimmage. That’s nothing new. You’re really just trying to stress the defensive sideline to sideline that way. But what Auburn does, and it’s really helped there above expectation metrics, has been utilizing RPO fades. When you dedicate that extra body into the box to try and clog run lanes, you’re leaving that person one-on-one outside the numbers. If they can win one-on-one with a fade, it is a great way to flip the field and provide chances.”

The Auburn offense has used a variety of running backs throughout the season so other than starting quarterback Payton Thorne, no player has more than 24 carries or 119 rushing yards on the season. Thorne is also just 43 of 63 passing the ball on the season with 517 passing yards and four touchdowns.

The Aggies defense hasn’t been great to start the year but Brooks said the Tigers’ struggle to impose themselves could cause problems if they fall behind.

“Now I don’t think that offensive line in terms of running the ball has actually done a fantastic job,” Brooks said. “This past weekend only 1.5 rush yard before contact clip when excluding Payton Thorne’s designs, their starting quarterback. So of course quarterback runs come a little bit easier than running back runs. When you see that they haven’t been able to push people around and they really rely on just winning those, I wouldn’t say toss ups, but kind of dodgy types of things. Not having a lot of reliance in the true drop back game. If they find themselves in a hole, I really don’t like their chances to claw out of it unless the defense can make some plays.”