The Tigers (1-1) and Aggies (2-0) open league play Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium in a matchup of two teams who haven’t fared so well in the SEC the past couple of seasons.
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For the Aggies, it’s an opportunity to establish themselves as contenders in the West Division. UCLA is a big name, was ranked 16th and, well, it was the season-opener.
But it’s not a game that should be seen as an end-all to end-alls. The Aggies are chasing a third straight 3-0 start, which would be a first since 1939-41.
The same can be said for the Aggies who came into this season with even higher expectations. Malzahn could use a quality win over a ranked team to show the Auburn fans that this team is a real contender, as opposed to a year ago, when the Tigers fell far short of the expectations. “We’ve had to develop those types of players and create depth across the board to compete in the SEC”. “That’s a pretty good raise of the bar in five years”. Although the Aggies have dominated the series, the Tigers won last year’s meeting in College Station 26-10.
“They ran up and down the field last week”, Sumlin said. “That’s going to be a challenge for us, coming from where we were past year as a rush defense, so it makes sense that they’re going to attack us that way”. Statistically it looks like in the second half of games he’s struggled but I also recognize the second game was Prairie View A&M. We’ve had to try to make some drastic changes, from body types to personnel, a lot of different things. “That’s our goal and like I said offensively, we’re still a work in progress”. We expect to host a few at our tailgate Saturday. Both teams have coaches who are under pressure to win big this season.
The Tigers defense has been really good in their games with Clemson and Arkansas State this season. That performance in a 51-14 romp over Arkansas State resurrected the formula that’s generated the most success for past Gus Malzahn offenses.
White finished the night rushing for 60 yards on 10 carries.
In a Week 1 loss to Clemson, the unit of Smith, Austin Golson, Alex Kozan, Xavier Dampeer and Robert Leff gave up two sacks, four quarterback hurries and 13 tackles for loss. Auburn then will play host to Mercer before making its first-ever trip to Missouri on September 23. He has a quarterback rating of 128.1, which is the ninth-best in the conference. “And he was a runner enough tonight”.
Quarterback Sean White and backup John Franklin III combined for 130 yards on the ground. And the loser – let’s just say you don’t want to be the losing coach.
OB: “First, it seems to me much must be proven before Johnson and Pettway can be considered as effective as Mason and Artis-Payne”.
On the offense, Auburn averages 209.5 yards in passing and 274.5 yards in rushing. “But with that being said, we’re going to play ball on Saturday”. Five of the first seven games will be at home, plus a game in Houston against BYU. Johnson has had two solid games and totaled 218 yards and three touchdowns after moving into the starting job with the defection of three other tailbacks.
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