It's time to return my attention to football since Texas A&M (8-2) is playing on the road at Auburn (4-6) tonight (6:30 PM Central on ESPN). Based on their season records so far, this would seem to be a fairly easy win for the Aggies, but as an SEC West divisional opponent since 2012, Auburn has been formidable with twelve games split 6-6 for each team. Texas A&M earned one of its most meaningful wins after the 1985 season, defeating Auburn 36-16 in the Cotton Bowl. That Auburn team featured star running back Bo Jackson, too.
Back to the game tonight: The Aggies are still in the running for the conference championship with only one SEC loss (to South Carolina). Auburn is struggling, but could make their season with a victory against the Aggies. A&M is the favorite at 1.5 points. According to College Football News, Auburn is the better team when it comes to avoiding penalties and turnovers, and those could be factors contributing to an Aggie defeat. The CFN prediction is a 26-20 win for A&M heading into the showdown against former SWC and Big 12 rival Texas U. in their next game.
Update 11:00 PM Saturday: Texas A&M fell behind 21-0 in the second quarter, but was able to get ahead 31-28 in the fourth quarter. Normally I would have turned off the TV when the score was 14-0, but for some reason I thought A&M might come back to win, with three quarters still left to play at that point. No such luck, though. Aggie penalties and turnovers kept them from scoring the points necessary to bury Auburn, and they eventually lost the game (43-41) in the fourth overtime period. Adios, SEC championship fantasies.
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