For the past decade, teams that play in the SEC West know they are going to have to deal with Alabama and LSU. And once the other teams in the division got their act together and started recruiting and playing like those two perennial powerhouses, navigating the schedule with any success could land any team in the playoff hunt while failure might have you sitting at home for bowl season.
Auburn and Texas A&M entered the 2019 season with those lofty expectations and schedules among some of the nation’s toughest.
Before Saturday’s meeting at Kyle Field, Auburn had already passed a big test, coming back from a 13-point second-half deficit in the season opener in Arlington, Texas to beat Oregon, while A&M’s chance to make an early statement fell flat, getting steamrolled in methodical fashion by top-ranked and defending national champion Clemson.