Texas A&M’s offense is seeking a rebound.
Senior quarterback Kellen Mond and his offense will be working to bounce back from a less-than-dominant performance against LSU as the Aggies face an Auburn defense with 576 total tackles and 18 sacks this season.
A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said the entire offensive unit needs more stability.
“[I] thought offensively we were inconsistent,” Fisher said. “I thought we did some good things early. [We] hit a couple big runs, at times we’re not very good with consistency and that went all the way across the board. Everybody took turns… we had some throws we should have made, a couple situations we should have made.”
Mond will have some ground to cover against Auburn to make up for his performance against LSU, where he accounted for 132 total yards and had 23 incomplete passes.
Auburn has a 5-3 record, with losses to Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama.
Offensive standouts for the Aggies come in sophomore running backs Isaiah Spiller and Ainias Smith and sophomore tight end Jalen Wydermyer.
Wydermyer has accumulated four touchdowns and 342 receiving yards this season but Spiller and Smith have been more high-profile with their performances. Smith has 348 receiving and 187 rushing yards with two rushing touchdowns, while Spiller leads the way with six rushing touchdowns, 784 rushing yards and 104 receiving yards.
Also noteworthy this season has been freshman wide receiver Chase Lane. The 6-foot-tall Houston native has accumulated 323 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
These five Aggies will have to step up when taking on Auburn’s defense.
When looking at Auburn’s defensive stat sheet, several stat lines stand out — one certainly being that of the 576 total tackles delivered by Auburn this season, 334 have been solo.
Additionally, Auburn’s 18 sacks this season have accounted for a total yard lossage of over the length of a full football field, at 102 yards.
However, Auburn also gave South Carolina one of its only two wins of the season. During that matchup, the Tigers allowed the Gamecocks to put up three rushing touchdowns, one receiving touchdown and 312 total yards.
Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said the matchup against the Aggies will serve as senior night for the Tigers.
“It’s going to be senior day,” Malzahn said. “We’ve got 16 seniors; I know they’re really looking forward to playing their last home game on our field.”
A&M’s offensive line, the “Maroon Goons,” gave up its first sack since the season opener against Vanderbilt during the third quarter against LSU.
Despite that sack, graduate student offensive tackle Ryan McCollum said that is only one of the offensive line’s focuses this week.
“We’re just going to treat it like any other week,” McCollum said. “I mean sacks, hurries, pressures, hits, that all goes under consideration. It’s not just sacks. We don’t like giving them up but we are going to continue to prepare like we have every other week this year.”
Against the Tigers, Mond and the “Maroon Goons” will have to look out for redshirt freshman linebacker Colby Wooden. The Lawrenceville, Ga., native has delivered three total sacks this season.
The Aggies will go on the road to face Auburn at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 5 in Jordan-Hare Stadium. This will be A&M’s first road game since the previously scheduled Tennessee road game was postponed due to COVID-19 cases and quarantine protocols.