Auburn bracing for heavy dose of downhill running

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Auburn bracing for heavy dose of downhill running game from Aggies

ByJason Caldwell

3-4 minutes

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2 Minute Drill: Auburn knocks off Ole Miss in Top 25 battle

 

AUBURN, Alabama—Currently ranked 41st nationally in rushing yards per game, averaging just over 188 yards per contest, Texas A&M brings a physical style of play on offense into Saturday’s showdown of Top 15 teams when 12th-ranked Auburn heads to College Station. The Tigers have already faced No. 3 team in rushing yards (Ole Miss), No. 4 (Arkansas), No. 16 (Georgia State) and No. 37 (Georgia) this season and have held up well, but the Aggies will be another stiff challenge, according to defensive lineman Colby Wooden. That’s where the experience could pay off.

“It’s very helpful,” Wooden said of seeing so many strong running teams this season. “We know how to stay in our gaps, play our keys, read our keys and play physical. That’s what Coach (Nick Eason) preached all last week and keeps preaching the most physical team wins.

“For us, we just have to do, not do nothing different, just keep playing physical, keep staying in our gaps, playing our responsibilities, you know, seeing our keys, read, react,” Wooden said.

Already with 2,743 yards rushing and 24 touchdowns in his time with the Aggies and averaging a hefty 5.7 yards per attempt on 485 carries, 6-1, 215 Isaiah Spiller leads the way for the Texas A&M ground game and is a player who definitely has Auburn’s attention.

He’s not the only back the Tigers have to worry about on Saturday for the 2:30 p.m. CDT kickoff for a game being televised by CBS. A 5-9, 185 speedster who also runs track for the Aggies, Devon Achane has 972 yards and nine touchdowns in his 16 career games in College Station and is averaging 7.5 yards per carry.

“They have a really good one-two punch with Isaiah Spiller and—I think the dude’s last name is Achane or something like that,” Auburn linebacker Owen Pappoe said. “Two really good running backs, man, so we are going to have to be on top of that. It’s going to be a really good matchup with me, Chandler and Zakoby going against those guys.”

Working against a running game every day in practice that wants to be physical at the point of attack and get downhill, Wooden said that has the Auburn defense prepared for Saturday’s game. Still, Texas A&M is a team that will lean heavily on the run if given the opportunity. In wins over Missouri and South Carolina the last two times out before a bye week, the Aggies ran the ball 95 times for 573 yards. That's the kind of attack that can wear on you, something that Wooden said you prepare for by making sure you're handling your assignments within the framework of the defense.

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“Spiller is a great back,” Wooden said. “Practicing with some of our backs, Tank (Bigsby) and Jarquez (Hunter), it just allows us to see what an SEC back is going to look like on Saturday. You can’t replicate how elusive and how good Spiller is. Just seeing those guys every day in practice allows us to see our keys, read, react and just do what we are supposed to do — stay in our gaps and do what we’re supposed to do.”

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