In front of a raucous crowd of over 87,000 in Auburn, Alabama, true freshman quarterback Kyle Allen led the Texas A&M Aggies onto the field to face the No. 3 team in the nation and defending Southeastern Conference champion Auburn Tigers.

It was Allen’s first career SEC start — his second career start — and it came in one of the conference’s most hostile environments.

Four snaps into the contest, Allen lobbed his first touchdown pass of the game, a 60-yard bomb to senior receiver Malcome Kennedy. Less than a minute later, he threw his second. Then he coolly tallied another two scores. Four touchdowns, 20 minutes.

“He did some really good things; no question about it,” Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. “There’s an example of a freshman coming in a big environment and doing a great job. It was a great performance.”

With Missouri’s bye last weekend, it was hard for senior wide receiver Bud Sasser to ignore Texas A&M’s upset victory and impossible to miss Allen’s breakout performance.

Sasser realized something while watching the Aggies at work: His offense is going to have to score early and often.

“When we get the chance on offense, we just need to put some points on the board,” Sasser said. “They’ve got some guys over there that can go, but all we need to do is make sure we’re putting up points.”

Sasser’s got the right idea, but matching the Aggies could prove difficult. Under the guidance of Allen and sophomore quarterback Kenny Hill, the Aggies have amassed 3,296 passing yards over the season, averaging 329.6 yards per game. That not only makes Texas A&M the top passing team in the SEC, but it also more than doubles Mizzou’s season total for passing yards.

After playing in College Station in four out of the past five seasons Pinkel said he knows what to expect from the Aggies’ high powered offense, but that doesn’t mean he can stop it.

“Contain it? You try to contain it with your pass rush and coverage, but it’s difficult,” Pinkel said. “We played against it last year, and it was certainly a task, and it will be a task again this year.”

Pinkel said defending Texas A&M’s pass attack starts up front, namely with the defensive end duo of senior Markus Golden and junior Shane Ray.

“We’ve just got to get out there and get after it like we always do,” Golden said. “We can control tempo through big plays, getting tackles for loss and sacking the quarterback. As a defensive line, we know that’s our job, and we know we have to get takeaways to make it a easier for our offense to get out there and make plays.”

Offensively, Sasser said matching the Aggies will come down to execution.

“We just have to make plays,” Sasser said. “When the ball is thrown your way, you do whatever possible to come down with it. Make sure we’re getting the right reads and everybody’s getting their assignments. Receivers have to get open and make sure they’re ready to go.”

This contest has a lot riding on it for the Tigers. Mizzou controls its own destiny for a division championship.

“If we have to talk players into playing now, then we’re in trouble,” Pinkel said.