Sneak peek: Texas A&M
AUBURN | Year two of the Hugh Freeze era gets underway with five consecutive home game before spending the entire month of October on the road.
The schedule includes big home matchups against Oklahoma and Texas A&M, and road contests at Georgia and Alabama.
Today, we continue an early look at Auburn’s 2024 schedule with the final home game of the season.
WHO: Texas A&M (7-6 last season, 4-4 SEC)
WHEN: Nov. 23, Flex (afternoon or night)
WHERE: Jordan-Hare Stadium (88,043)
SERIES: Texas A&M leads 8-6
WHAT’S NEW: Mike Elko was hired one day after the final regular season game to replace Jimbo Fisher, who recruited well thanks to a robust NIL, but failed the program in most other areas and walked away with a $77 million buyout. Elko was the defensive coordinator at TAMU from 2018-21 before spending the previous two seasons as Duke’s head coach. Elko added Collin Klein from Kansas State as offensive coordinator, Jay Bateman from Florida as defensive coordinator and former Auburn assistant Trooper Taylor from Duke as associate head coach and running backs coach.
The TAMU roster went through a huge upheaval with 28 incoming and 31 outgoing transfers. The best of the incoming players include Fresno State tight end Tre Watson, Purdue pass rusher Nic Scourton, Florida linebacker Scooby Williams, Kansas State cornerback Will Lee and Alabama cornerback Dezz Ricks. Scourton led the Big Ten in sacks last season. The Aggies signed the nation’s No. 20 class including 5-star athlete Terry Bussey, who will get a first look on defense.
WHO TO WATCH, OFFENSE: Sophomore Conner Weigman completed 68.9 percent of his passes for 979 yards with eight touchdowns and two interceptions last season before going down with a season-ending injury against Auburn in game four. Junior Jaylen Henderson will push him for the starting job after completing 68.0 percent of his passes for 715 yards with six touchdowns and two interceptions last year.
WHO TO WATCH, DEFENSE: Senior Shemar Stewart is one of the nation’s top defensive tackles. He had 33 tackles, 10.5 tackles-for-loss, 6.0 sacks, two forced fumbles and two blocked kicks last season.
OUTLOOK: The Aggies should have one of the SEC’s best defensive lines and one of the best defenses overall assuming several key transfers step up at linebacker and defensive back. They’ll be fired up to play under Elko again. The offense will be a work in progress but does have talent with six returning starters including wide receivers Jahdae Walker and Noah Thomas. Four of TAMU’s transfers were offensive linemen and that’s a unit that needs to improve.
This is pivotal home game for Auburn and could be the difference between an eight- or nine-win regular season. It’s also the second-biggest home of the year behind the matchup against Oklahoma at the end of September, which says a lot about AU’s home slate this fall.
MORE SNEAK PEEKS:
Aug. 31 ALABAMA A&M
Sept. 7 CALIFORNIA
Sept. 14 NEW MEXICO
Sept. 21 ARKANSAS
Sept. 28 OKLAHOMA
Oct. 5 at Georgia
Oct. 19 at Missouri
Oct. 26 at Kentucky
Nov. 2 VANDERBILT
Nov. 16 ULM