The 2025 season has started exceptionally well for the Texas A&M football program. The Aggies are undefeated and coming off a bye week after a crazy win against Notre Dame on the road the week before. They are getting ready for SEC play with their conference opener against Auburn. The key in the game will be how Texas A&M defends the Auburn receivers.
The Aggies enter this matchup after having jumped to the 10th-ranked team in the country. Auburn's coming into this game after losing to Oklahoma on the road, and they need more from this offense, especially with how talented the Tigers' receiving corps is. Mike Elko was asked explicitly about facing Cam Coleman and Eric Singleton, and he said they are a matchup nightmare and he'd love it if they did not have to play them on Saturday.
“Oh God,” Elko said. “I would rather be playing guys who weren’t big, athletic, fast, and 10.2 in the 100-meter. … There are a lot of other teams I’d rather try to matchup with on Saturday at wide receiver than this group.”
This will be the second time that the Mike Elko-led Texas A&M football program faces Auburn, and he wants revenge after the way they played last year when Auburn won 43-41 in overtime. The Aggies' key is handling the physicality that the Tigers play with.
“I think they are extremely talented upfront,” Elko said. “I think we have a ton of respect for them. Human psychology says the best unit on the field on Saturday will be the Auburn offensive line. I can promise you that.”
Elko was also honest about his still-thinking that this defense is finding its identity, and the Auburn offense is a good barometer for how well they can play against an SEC opponent.
“I think we’re still working through it,” Elko said. “Obviously, we haven't had the level of success or didn’t have the level of success that we wanted to have in the Notre Dame game, and this would be hard to sit here and tell you what we’re holding our hat on.”
This Texas A&M defense needs to be the difference maker because the Aggies have talent on this offense, mainly after Marcel Reed emerged as a potential Heisman Trophy-caliber player.
