A valiant effort ultimately falls shorts as Auburn’s now typical offensive miscues put them in an early hole that they aren’t able to dig out of.
Public sentiments about the Auburn offense have been dour for the majority of the season. Consistent turnovers from the QB position, a porous offensive line, and questionable scheme & personnel decisions have fans hesitant to give this coaching staff the benefit of the doubt when it comes to hope for improvement. It was no surprise, then, when the offense started the game playing just as poorly, mostly due to mistakes and miscues from Robby Ashford.
A strange, unforced fumble and a terrible throw that resulted in an interception resulted in Ashford’s benching, which was immediately followed by TJ Finley fumbling the ball on a strip sack in his lone pass attempt on the day. Upon his return, however, Robby Ashford looked like a different player. He looked more decisive, more accurate, and more confident as he immediately led Auburn on 2 straight scoring drives that ended in TDs.
I wonder if what we did is transferrable to the rest of our season. We definitely seemed to find something as far as Robby Ashford’s confidence and his urgency. (…) I just hope that that is now, permanently, who Robby Ashford is for this offense for the rest of this season.
– B Wil on The Auburn Express Podcast
Compounded with Tank Bigsby’s 179yds rushing, the offense found some positive momentum that it had been lacking. But is it sustainable? Was it due to yet another shuffle of the offensive line or Ole Miss’s defense? Is Robby Ashford starting to become the QB that Auburn needs, or was this game just a one-off?
You can catch more conversations like these from The War Rapport on The Auburn Express Podcast, updated every weekday.
Related
