Auburn beset by penalty problems through 4 weeks

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Auburn beset by penalty problems through 4 weeks

By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

5-6 minutes

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COLUMBIA, SC - OCTOBER 17: Shi Smith #13 of the South Carolina Gamecocks makes a 10-yard touchdown reception against Nehemiah Pritchett #14 of the Auburn Tigers in the third quarter of the game at Williams-Brice Stadium on October 17, 2020 in Columbia, South Carolina. The Gamecocks won 30-22. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)Getty Images

Turnovers cratered Auburn’s chances of beating South Carolina last weekend, but Bo Nix’s three interceptions weren’t the only self-inflicted errors to beleaguer the Tigers in Columbia, S.C.

Auburn committed a season-high nine penalties for 89 yards during its 30-22 loss to South Carolina, including some critical defensive mishaps that extended drives for the Gamecocks.

“Really the difference in the game, if you look at it, obviously, was the three turnovers that led to 21 points, and then the nine penalties,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. “Four of those led to first downs and kept drives alive, so we’ve got to do a better job of that. Disappointed in the penalties. You know, I always think that’s coaching. That starts with me, and we’ve got to do a better job in that area.”

Auburn has struggled with penalties through its first four games this season, committing 7.5 per game for an average of 60.5 yards. The Tigers are second-to-last in the SEC in both of those categories, and the team’s average penalty yardage surrendered is its worst mark since the 2014 season, when Auburn averaged an SEC-worst 68.92 penalty yards per game.

Saturday’s errors against South Carolina proved to be the costliest, though, and they were compounded by Nix’s trio of interceptions that led to 21 Gamecocks points. Two penalties in particular against Auburn’s defense stand out from Saturday’s loss, both of which came on South Carolina’s opening drive of the second half.

After Auburn pushed its lead to 19-14 on an Anders Carlson field goal to open the half, South Carolina responded with its most sustained drive of the day, going 75 yards over nine plays to take its first lead at 20-19. That scoring drive was aided by two costly penalties against Auburn, with the first a 15-yard facemask call against Smoke Monday on a third-down early in the drive.

The Gamecocks converted the third-down even without Monday’s personal foul, but the extra 15 yards brought South Carolina’s offense to midfield. It was the first time all day the Gamecocks' offense got to the 50-yard line without the benefit of taking over with a short field thanks to a Nix interception.

“I really think we were hurting ourselves with a lot of the penalties that we had, man,” linebacker Owen Pappoe said. “We’ve just got to get that corrected in practice, so we can get off the field quickly on third down.”

The second penalty on that drive resulted in South Carolina’s touchdown. With the Gamecocks facing second-and-goal at the 10, Auburn jumped offside and gave South Carolina a free play. Gamecocks quarterback Collin Hill took advantage of the opportunity and found Shi Smith soaring over Nehemiah Pritchett for the touchdown and the first lead of the day.

“I think the penalties hurt us a lot, too,” Pappoe said. “So, we’ve got to get that corrected, ASAP.”

While those penalties against Auburn’s defense loomed large on that touchdown drive for South Carolina, they weren’t the only errors by the Tigers. Auburn was also flagged three times for defensive pass interference, with each flag coming on a third-down play and resulting in a fresh set of downs for South Carolina — though the Gamecocks did not score on any of those drives.

“We have the potential to be a really good team,” Pappoe said. “We’ve just got to eliminate these self-inflicted wounds, all the penalties. We had turnovers on offense. We’ve just got to make sure we get all of that corrected.”

According to Malzahn, Auburn players responded well in practice on Sunday but reiterated the need to address the team’s penalty issues moving forward. How exactly Auburn fixes that—besides just stressing discipline—remains to be seen, but Malzahn has taken the lead and put the responsibility on himself.

“We’ve got to correct ourselves,” Malzahn said. “We can’t beat ourselves. We have to protect the football, which really, we’ve done a good job of up to this point. That was uncharacteristic of us, and the penalties. I have always said that penalties are coaching, and that starts with me. We’re going to do a better job in that area. We kept too many drives alive.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

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NOT a bash on refs by any means....why does it seem all other teams get their WR in position to get a DPI call on 3rd down, but we never seem to?!?!