Paul Finebaum questions how Auburn will respond to difficult road loss at Oklahoma

Auburn suffered a tough loss to Oklahoma in Week 4. Paul Finebaum is interested in seeing how the Tigers will respond to their first loss of the season moving forward.

There’s a lot of potential with Hugh Freeze’s team in 2025. Auburn’s schedule doesn’t exactly lighten up though, with Texas A&M next on the docket. Finebaum joined The Matt Barrie Show to explain his thought process behind concerns for the future of the Tigers this season.

“I think for Auburn fans, once you get over the disappointment, it’s hard not to feel badly about it,” Finebaum explained. “But ultimately, there’s another game to play, and people can scream and holler all they want.

“The real problem for Auburn is figuring out how they’re going to dig themselves out of this. Especially with a potentially a tougher game coming up against Texas A&M.”

The Aggies certainly present a unique challenge to Auburn. These two programs last met a year ago, when they battled to a stalemate in regulation. The Tigers would ultimately wind up victorious, topping the Aggies 43-41 in four overtimes in one of the more fascinating games of the season.

The chief issue for Auburn during their tough road loss at Oklahoma was pass protection. Jackson Arnold was sacked 10 times in the contest. Even so, and despite battling the officiating, Auburn managed to make it a game all the way until the finish.

The Tigers have a renewed sense of confidence under Freeze, and a lot of that has to do with Arnold. The new signal-caller for the Tigers have been quite good. He has gone 48-of-69 passing for 501 yards and four touchdowns, without throwing an interception. He has also run for 192 yards and four scores.

On the other hand, if Texas A&M wants to win, getting a handle on Arnold will be key. But the same is true in reverse with Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed.

Reed has been electric so far this year, helping make the Texas A&M offense significantly more dynamic. He has gone 58-of-99 passing for 869 yards and nine touchdowns, against one interception. He’s also run for 142 yards and a score.

The Aggies haven’t been elite defensively yet, so this could easily end up another high-scoring game between the two teams. Auburn is just hoping for a similar result this time around. Paul Finebaum will certainly have a keen eye on this one.

— On3’s Thomas Goldkamp contributed to this article.