Texas A&M's Mike Elko Makes Bold Claim Ahead of Auburn's Clash With Aggies

The Auburn Tigers travel to College Station, Texas, on Saturday to face No. 9 Texas A&M in a fascinating matchup – one that both teams need in the win column tremendously.

Aggies head coach Mike Elko spoke earlier this week on Saturday’s clash between the two SEC foes, making a bold statement regarding Auburn’s talented, veteran offensive line and explaining why he believes the Tigers’ nine-sack outing at Oklahoma was an abnormal occurrence.

“Oh, I don’t think so at all,” Elko said on if his defense will pin their ears back against Auburn. “I think they're extremely talented up front. I think it was a little bit of an anomaly on Saturday. We've got a ton of respect for them.”

“I said this to the guys this morning,” Elko continued. “Human psychology says absolutely, without a doubt, the best unit on the field Saturday will be the Auburn offensive line. I can promise you that."

The box score may have shown nine sacks allowed, which was previously 10 before one was taken away, but it isn’t exactly an accurate representation of Auburn’s offensive line performance.

Head coach Hugh Freeze said in his press conference on Monday that the fault is “50-50,” meaning half of the sacks were attributed to the offensive line and the other half to Jackson Arnold’s tendency to hold onto the ball for too long.

Arnold’s lack of decisiveness has been an area of concern throughout his entire college career and was even a talking point during fall camp last month. The junior quarterback is yet to commit a turnover or throw an interception through the first four games of the season, but Freeze believes the sack issue can be resolved if he can get the ball to his elite wide receivers in time and trust them to make a play.

Elko seems to admire Arnold for his strong skill set and ability to create outside of the pocket, despite the high volume of sacks and miscues against the Sooners.

"A really talented kid. I think he can make a lot of throws. He's got really good arm talent. He's got the ability to beat you with his legs and can run around and do some things,” Elko said. “I think obviously that was that was probably a really challenging environment for him Saturday, just going back there and all of the emotions that come with that. And so I'm sure he's going to be very hungry to come out and play really, really well Saturday. They'll be a team that's got their backs against the wall and I'm sure they'll put their best foot out there."

Auburn’s wide receiving core is one of the best in the nation, which other head coaches often recognize and have expressed their discomfort with facing wideouts like Cam Coleman, Eric Singleton Jr., and Malcolm Simmons.

Elko explained his assessment of Dezz Ricks and Will Lee, two of the Aggies’ corners that will line up against Auburn’s receivers, and complimented the scary matchup nightmare that the Tigers present on the outside.

"I think it's been really good to see Dezz [Ricks]. I think he's taken some really positive steps forward. Obviously Will [Lee] is a very consistent player for us and a kid that we have a ton of confidence in,” Elko said. “You've heard my story on matchups. I'd way rather be playing guys who weren't big, athletic, fast, and 10.2 [seconds] in the 100 meters. This is a really, really talented wide receiver corps. We'll see how we do on Saturday. But there's a lot of other teams I would rather try to match up with on Saturday at wide receiver than this group."

Auburn and Texas A&M are set to kick off at 2:30 p.m. CST on Saturday afternoon at Kyle Field and will be broadcast on ESPN.