After rumbling and tumbling its way to 724 yards on the ground through the first three weeks of the season, the Auburn Tigers have totaled just 119 yards rushing since the start of conference play.
Auburn’s talented crop of running backs totaled just eight carries in the 16-10 loss to Texas A&M on Saturday for a total of 38 yards. And that room includes what was the second leading rusher in the SEC heading into Saturday – Jeremiah Cobb.
In the first 15 minutes of play, the Tigers didn’t hand the ball off to Damari Alston or Cobb a single time. As a result, Auburn totaled one rushing yard, one first down and punted three times on its first three drives.
The Tigers had a chance to exploit a weak point of the Aggies’ defense. In Week 1, Texas A&M gave up 200+ yards to UTSA, and it gave up 134 to Notre Dame.
“Definitely, probably should have,” Hugh Freeze said when asked why the Tigers didn’t run the ball more.
Auburn’s offense left much to be desired after Saturday’s loss. The Tigers totaled just one yard in the final stanza after having – yet again – ample opportunity to take control of the game. The Tigers totaled just 177 yards of offense. It was the worst offensive performance of the season, by a large margin.
On 12 opportunities, Auburn was a dreadful 0-for-12 on third downs. It had an average distance to go of 10.7 yards per attempt. Making matters worse, it was the first time since 2006 that Auburn did not convert on a single third-down opportunity.
“It’s unacceptable. We have too good of skill players and quarterbacks and running backs. I think we’re solid in the O-line, too. But we certainly aren’t playing like it. So that falls on me and the staff to figure out why,” said Freeze.
Again, it was the second consecutive week in which Auburn’s offense was plagued by penalties. Time and time again, Auburn’s offensive drives were derailed by holding calls or false starts. The Tigers committed 10 penalties for 69 yards on Saturday, just a week removed from committing 13 penalties for 85.
“The presnap ones are unacceptable. I don’t know the holdings and the other ones until you watch the film, and how accurate those are. The presnap ones have hurt us every road game we’ve had,” Freeze said of the penalties.
Auburn had a total of nine three-and-outs in its 13 offensive drives on Saturday. Three of the Tigers’ first four drives were three-and-outs. It is the fourth time this season the Tigers have opened up with a three-and-out on their first offensive drive.
That comes after a week of scripting plays against a defense that the Tigers have scouted for the last week.
Auburn will have a week off before inviting Georgia to Jordan-Hare Stadium for the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. With hopes of corralling its first winning season since 2020, Auburn has little margin for error.
“There’s no question that we’ve gotta go reevaluate everything,” said Freeze. “It was unacceptable. Again, it’s not on the kids.”