Players and coaches will often look for what many call bulletin board material to motivate a team before a game.

For Auburn against Texas A&M, that came in a clip from Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko’s press conference during the week. Elko was asked about avoiding overlooking Auburn with a big game against Texas A&M the following week, but accidentally said the team’s focus was “singlehandedly on Texas,” before catching himself and saying Auburn.

Auburn players took notice of that, and Jarquez Hunter directly responded to it after the game.

“I felt like that was very disrespectful to us,” Hunter said. “I mean, I felt like as a team, we took that personal because they just looked over us and didn’t think we was just nothing. So, we had to show them what we’re about.”

The Tigers did just that, earning a 43-41 win in quadruple overtime. Hunter more than did his part too, rushing for 130 yards and three touchdowns.

It wasn’t just Hunter who mentioned Elko’s slip up after the game either. Auburn played the video on the Jordan-Hare Stadium videoboard after the game while thousands of fans were on the field. Auburn football’s official account on X (formerly twitter) also reposted the clip with the caption: “Good luck vs. Texas!”

It’s hard to say how much looking ahead to its next game affected Texas A&M against Auburn, but the Tigers were certainly the better team to start the game.

Auburn scored 21 straight points to begin the contest, capturing all the early momentum before Texas A&M had a chance to come back. The Aggies eventually did, but after four overtimes and a drop in the endzone, Auburn finally finished a close game.

While Texas A&M can still clinch a spot in the Southeastern Conference Championship with a win over Texas, the loss to Auburn makes its chances at a playoff spot far less likely.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m