Auburn vs. Texas A&M 2025 Preview: Keys, Players, and Predictions

After a devastating loss to the Oklahoma Sooners, the Auburn Tigers have a quick turnaround, facing another ranked team. It’s a Auburn vs. Texas A&M showdown in 2025, as the Tigers travel to College Station to face the Aggies in this Week 5 game preview.

Auburn Tigers vs. Texas A&M Aggies: Matchup History

Auburn and Texas A&M have played 15 times throughout the history of these two programs, but only two of those were before 2012. Since 2012, Auburn has won seven of these historic matchups and Texas A&M has won six, with Auburn winning the most recent game last year. That contest was a four-overtime thriller – and both teams are probably hoping to avoid that this year.

Texas A&M is coming off of a bye week after beating Notre Dame in Week 3, so Auburn has their work cut out for them. However, Auburn can win this game based on their key players executing and limiting the Aggie key players, and executing on the general keys to the game.

Auburn vs. Texas A&M 2025 Preview: Keys, Players, and Predictions

Key Players for Auburn

Offense

Auburn played well enough against Oklahoma to win the game, but their own mistakes and the absolutely abysmal job by the referees were too much to overcome. Yet, one major concern for Auburn is the offensive line play.

Texas A&M has nine sacks as a team and Auburn will have to have better offensive line play to avoid them increasing that significantly. Oklahoma sacked Auburn 10 times last week. Yet while not all of those were on the offensive line, they were getting whipped on plays even when they didn’t give up a sack. For Auburn to win, they will have to play better as a unit.

The next key player is obviously Jackson Arnold. As mentioned above, the 10 sacks against Oklahoma were not all on the offensive line. That is because Arnold was holding the ball way too long on pass plays. His performance has been an improvement over that of Payton Thorne, but not to the needed level for Auburn to really have a great season. However, the season is still young and the potential is there. Arnold is reading defenses well, and outside of holding the ball too long in certain instances, he is making good decisions. His fear of not turning the ball over is apparent, and a big part of why he is not as confident to sling the ball.

However, Auburn has the receivers to let him rip the ball. He missed two touchdown throws to Cam Coleman against Oklahoma, so that is something to work on throughout the season. Arnold is going to have to be a threat with his legs and his arm against Texas A&M for the Tigers to win. He can do it – and if he can match what Notre Dame did, Auburn will have a good chance at winning.

Finally, Auburn has got to get Cam Coleman more involved against the Aggies. In the Oklahoma game, Coleman had three receptions for 88 yards and one touchdown. He also had the two missed deep balls from Arnold, and the egregious pass interference no-call on the pass from Eric Singleton that would have likely ended as a touchdown had he not been interfered with. Outside of those six or seven plays, Coleman was not targeted much, despite being a force on offense for the Tigers. Coleman is one of the best wide receivers in the country from a talent standpoint, but Auburn does not treat him like that often enough.

This is magnified by the fact that at 237 receiving yards on only 13 catches, Coleman is 92nd in yards in the country. If Auburn is going to have success, he is going to have to be higher on that list which requires getting him more involved. If the Tigers can do this, then the Aggies are beatable.

Defense

Auburn’s defense finally looked like the unit that had been hyped up in the offseason against Oklahoma. They held the Sooners to 271 yards passing and 32 yards rushing. Many thought the Tigers might give up 400 yards passing to the Sooners like they did against Baylor, but the defense showed up and showed out. They will have to play to that level for the rest of the season starting with Texas A&M. This leads us to the first key player.

Kayin Lee is going to be vital to the Tigers success in covering Mario Craver and KC Concepcion. This is especially true because Jay Crawford is questionable to play because of a knee injury. Auburn’s secondary hasn’t been great this season, and that includes Lee. However, against Oklahoma they played much better. Isaiah Sategna had a good game, but no other receiver had more than 60 yards against Auburn. If the Tigers are going to win, they will have to match this effort – and it starts with Kayin Lee.

The final two key defensive players for Auburn are two freshmen who are continually improving. The first is defensive back Eric Winters. Winters has been a bright spot in a secondary that has been struggling to tackle. He is currently sixth in tackles on the team and ironically one of three safeties in the top six. Winters had a great fall camp and his increased usage is showing that. If Jay Crawford is out, then players like Champ Anthony and Sylvester Smith could be moved around, allowing for more usage from Winters. He is going to be key in making tackles and stopping the Aggie defense.

The second stellar freshman is Jared Smith, defensive end, who has made impactful plays in two games in a row. Smith is not getting enough snaps because Auburn’s trench depth. However, the freshman has sacks in two games in a row. He is fast off the edge and causes havoc for opposing quarterbacks. Pairing him with Keldric Faulk will be huge going forward and it starts against Texas A&M.

Key Players for Texas A&M

Offense

Texas A&M is a good football team and clearly capable of putting up points. The Aggies have scored 41 or more in all three of their games (including Notre Dame who was considered a College Football Playoff contender). Their offense is led sophomore quarterback Marcel Reed who is the first key player for the A&M offense.

Reed had a great game against Auburn last year, putting up over 350 yards by himself. He has been great so far this season too, and has been underrated coming into the year. So far, he has 869 yards passing, nine touchdowns, one interception and only one sack in 2025. Reed is also a dual-threat quarterback, which is seen with his additional 142 rushing yards and one touchdown. For Texas A&M to avenge the four-overtime loss of last year, Reed is going to have to continue his great year on the ground and through the air.

Similarly to Auburn, Texas A&M has a questionable run game this year, and did not have a clear-cut plan when the season started. However, the Aggies second key player has broken out for them and provided balance in the run game – Le’Veon Moss.

Moss, a senior, has 33 carries for 168 yards and four touchdowns this season. In 2023 he had 96 carries for 484 yards and five touchdowns and in 2024 he had 121 carries for 765 yards and 10 touchdowns. Moss has nearly always averaged north of five yards per carry, and this is going to be huge for Texas A&M to maintain balance. Likely due to Reed’s mobility, Moss has not been used a lot as a receiver. Yet to be a bigger impact against Auburn, it would be wise to use him as a pass-catcher.

Finally, Texas A&M has a pair of wide receivers that are extremely talented. Mario Craver and KC Concepcion have a combined 670 receiving yards for the Aggies. That is 69-percent of the team’s total passing yards for the year. They have also combined for 33 receptions and seven pass touchdowns. These two are going to be essential to A&M’s passing attack. Concepcion was a target for Auburn in the transfer portal, so they fully understand the talent he has. Meanwhile, Craver has been the better of the two options statistically this season.

Defense

Texas A&M’s defense seems like a question mark for them so far in 2025. They’ve given up 24, 22 and 40 points in their last three games, respectively. Only one of those games was against a “Power Four” school in Notre Dame, so going against a fellow SEC team will make for an interesting matchup. The Aggies’ tackle leader is junior linebacker, Taurean York, with 17. York has been a viable piece of this defense for three years now, with at least 70 tackles in each of his previous two seasons. And, he is on pace for roughly 68 this year. He will be all over the field against Auburn and they will have to account for his presence.

The other key player for A&M also has 17 tackles, but plays out of the defensive backfield. That is junior safety Marcus Ratcliffe. Ratcliffe is on pace for his best season in tackles, and he has already set a new career-high in pass deflections. It is clear that Ratcliffe has seen an increased role in the Aggie defense in 2025. He will be a key piece in both stopping the run game and affecting the pass. He has four career interceptions but has yet to record one in 2025. To affect Auburn best, he will likely need to record his first of the season; which would also be Jackson Arnold’s first interception of the season.

The last key player for Texas A&M’s defense is fifth-year senior Cashius Howell. Howell has already recorded three sacks this season and will need to be a menace to the Auburn offensive line. In his career, he has 18.5 sacks, 103 total tackles, 10 passes defended and one interception. He has multiple ways to disrupt an offense, but the main way to impact Auburn will be as a pass rusher. If he is able to cause problems for Arnold’s ball security, then Texas A&M can win the game easily.

2025 Game Preview: How Auburn Wins vs. Texas A&M in Week 5

First and foremost, Auburn’s offensive line has to play better. They allowed 10 sacks last week, and were not able to run the ball as well as they had all season. This will have to improve to win this game. The second key for Auburn ties into their offensive line play, which is the ability to stay balanced on offense. A&M gave up 293 yards passing and 136 yards rushing to Notre Dame, so Auburn has a blueprint on how to beat them.

On defense, Auburn is going to have to continue to tackle soundly, and contain Marcel Reed on the ground. Reed’s dual-threat ability is going to cause problems. However, Auburn has been able to deal with them so far against Sawyer Robertson and John Mateer. Reed is a better runner than both, though, and is coming into his own as a passer. Auburn will have to figure out how to deal with Reed in this contest.

Final Prediction: 38-31, Auburn wins.

Auburn Football: Recruiting Roundup

Auburn has a miniature dead period with two away games and then a bye week following that. This is leads to the Georgia game on October 11, which will have massive recruiting implications.

One player to watch leading up to October 11 is Lasiah Jackson. The four-star cornerback is currently committed to Stanford; though he’s from Lee County, Georgia which is not far from Auburn. The Tigers are making a push for him, and he may be their only commit if they can flip him.

Since our last recruiting roundup, Chad Simmons and Steve Wiltfong predicted four-star defensive linemen Corey Wells to flip from Texas to Auburn. This will be huge, as defensive line is an emphasis for Auburn in this class. It also is likely preceding a flip from his brother Chris Wells.

Wells and Lasiah Jackson will help Auburn climb in the recruiting rankings as they are currently sit at No. 31.