Auburn Football vs. Texas A&M: 5 Things to Watch For

Pressure on Trevor Knight

We’ll talk a lot about Texas A&M’s defensive line this week, and for very good reason, but Auburn’s defensive line is just as good and they’ll need to contain A&M quarterback Trevor Knight on Saturday.

The senior quarterback who transferred from Oklahoma is very good on the run. Kevin Sumlin likes to move the pocket and have him throw on the run.

Carl Lawson and Marlon Davidson will have a hard time running him down from sideline-to-sideline.

However, Knight has shown some inconsistency throwing the football throughout his college career. A lot of that has to do with the amount of pressure he faces.

If the Auburn defensive line can get penetration, they can force Knight to make some bad decisions.

In his career he’s thrown 21 interceptions to just 29 touchdowns. Since his freshman year that ratio is even worse – 20-16. He essentially throws an interception every 27 pass attempts, or 0.8 interceptions a game.

So far this season he’s thrown an interception in each of his first two games.

If Auburn’s defense can put some pressure on Knight it will force him into some bad decisions. Our secondary and linebackers are inexperienced, but they’re opportunistic enough to come up with a couple of interceptions.

If anything, it will force Knight to get rid of the ball before his talented wide receivers can get open.

Even though they didn’t get a sack against Clemson, they pressured Deshaun Watson all night and forced him to get rid of the ball early.

That relentless pressure from the defensive line continued against Arkansas State, and if it continues against Texas A&M I like our chances to win.

Next: Auburn’s Linebackers