Before the start of the regular season, first-year Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze talked about his team’s “reveal party” a lot.

By that, he meant he was eager to see what the Tigers looked like when the lights came on against another opponent. So far, he’s had three opportunities to see his team up against another as Auburn has tallied wins against UMass, Cal and Samford.

However, Saturday afternoon will be another reveal party of sorts as Freeze gets his first look at how his team stacks up against another SEC opponent as Auburn is set to open conference play against Texas A&M.

Because Saturday’s game is on the road in College Station, Freeze’s appearance on “Tiger Talk”, Auburn’s radio show, was a little different as it was prerecorded instead of being a live broadcast from Baumhower’s Victory Grille.

Nonetheless, here’s everything Freeze said in his interview with Auburn radio broadcasters Andy Burcham and Brad Law:

— Andy Burcham starts the show in saying that the “preliminaries” are over as Hugh Freeze and the Tigers start their SEC stretch against Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon from Kyle Field in College Station.

— Hugh Freeze on the preparation heading into SEC: “You’re playing more talented teams, typically in this league.” Says that while the environment might be different, you can’t stray too far your typical approach. Says he’ll have crowd noise at practice to help the Tigers prepare. “That’s why you come to this league, for environments like that.”

— Freeze on so many guys getting their first look at SEC play: “We’re going to have to play a ton of young kids on Saturday and who knows how they perform on this stage.”

— With injuries and the growing intensity as SEC play opens, how do you balance the intensity? Freeze says that a tough battle. “That is a real, real difficult question,” Freeze says. Freeze adds that Auburn’s lack of depth in certain positions has kept him from being as intense as he would like on a Tuesday or Wednesday of practice. “It’s a juggling act,” Freeze said.

— On this week’s practices: “We had several that couldn’t practice yesterday,” Freeze said. He’s unsure how those who don’t get a full week of practice might perform when the lights come on on Saturday morning.

— On playing at Kyle Field: “It’s hard to prepare them for that without the experience of it,” Freeze says. Adds that the crowd at Cal doesn’t pale in comparison to what the Tigers will experience on Saturday.

— On going against Texas A&M’s recruiting classes: “The depth, the size, the speed… they’re full of NFL players. That’s what we’ve gotta get to and we will… When you turn on the tape, they’re really, really deep and talented… Whether or not they play up to that, that’s not for me to say.”

— On the experience of Jimbo Fisher’s coaching staff: “Obviously he doesn’t hire them just because they’ve been head coaches, you hire them because they’re really good football coaches… The bottom line is he’s hiring really good football coaches.”

— On Texas A&M’s offense: Says the first thing he notices is the success of quarterback Conner Weigman. Adds that schematically, the Aggies are difficult to defend.

— On keeping the Aggies off the scoreboard early: “It would be a huge, huge plus,” Freeze said. “Last time we were there, we jumped out quick on them with a 14-0 lead.” Says it helps silent the crowd.

— On Texas A&M’s wide receivers: “It’s NFL guys. With us losing Keionte (Scott)… we’re going to have to play some young kids, some freshman. You’re going to have to play two deep, it’ll be a hundred degrees… we’re going to have to juggle some pieces.”

— The importance on Auburn’s defense applying pressure to Weigman: “It would be great, but it hasn’t been something we’ve done greatly,” Freeze said. “We haven’t been great at getting pressure on guys without adding guys to the rush.” Says having Jalen McLeod back is a plus, but it’s something he and the Tigers have to improve at and address with recruiting.

— On Texas A&M’s defense: Freeze says it all starts up front in the trenches. “They’re the top in the conference and maybe in the country on third down… they really rush with four and kinda guarded you on the back end.” Freeze reiterates that third-and-manageable will be key against Texas A&M. Says third-and-long situations are “no bueno”.

— On Auburn’s running game: Freeze says the run game will be key in shortening the game on Saturday. Freeze adds that he’s hopeful offensive linemen Kam Stutts and Izavion Miller will be able to go on Saturday after being banged up against Samford, but that he still expects younger guys to get snaps.

— On the importance of avoiding penalties on the road: “The pre-snap ones are the ones that irk you, or selfish ones… We have the last few weeks had a few pre-snap ones in a critical, critical point… that’s going to be even more amplified in these games… We talk about it often… Hopefully we can be pretty effective in not getting ourselves in trouble with those.”

— On Texas A&M’s secondary: “They just break on the ball like 5-star recruits. That’s kinda what they’re made up of,” Freeze said. “Hopefully some of our guys can win some of those 1-on-1s.”

— On what he’s telling Payton Thorne: “It’s okay to punt. But we can’t turn the ball over by forcing or being too greedy… let it come to you,” Freeze says. “Don’t try to do too much and just stay within the system. Hopefully he’ll take care of the ball when he does that.”