Paul Finebaum: Texas A&M game is Auburn's 'Waterloo' moment after Oklahoma loss

Paul Finebaum believes everything is riding on Week 5 for Auburn. After a tough loss this past weekend to Oklahoma, the Tigers will face Texas A&M this coming Saturday, and all their chips will have to be pushed into the center of the table.

Finebaum joined The Matt Barrie Show to elaborate on his thought process. Auburn’s loss to the Sooners, combined with their difficult schedule, makes this weekend’s game against the Aggies an all-important one.

“I think Texas A&M is a top-ten team, and this could be the Waterloo for Auburn,” Finebaum stated. “You can’t go on the road and lose both of these games, because they still have Georgia in three weeks and Alabama after that.

“There’s a lot left for them to deal with, and what was otherwise a fair schedule looks a lot tougher. They also have Vanderbilt, which we can talk about another time, but they’ve looked really good, so that’s a big game.”

As Finebaum recognizes, 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 Texas A&M 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.