Worst offensive performance in years

[aubiefifty 17,488]

Auburn has worst offensive performance in years in loss to Texas A&M

By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

5-6 minutes

Auburn quarterback Bo Nix (10) pauses on his knee after throwing an incomplete pass against Texas A&M during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021, in College Station, Texas. Texas A&M won 20-3. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)AP

Auburn’s offense dug itself a hole so deep in College Station, Texas, that it’s a minor miracle the Tigers didn’t strike oil at Kyle Field.

In a 20-3 loss to No. 14 Texas A&M that dealt a serious blow to No. 13 Auburn’s SEC West hopes, the Tigers turned in their worst offensive performance in years. Bo Nix, coming off a remarkable October run, took a sharp regression to the mean. Auburn’s skill players struggled to make plays. The offensive line failed to win the line of scrimmage — both in the run game and in pass protection.

Read more Auburn football: Instant analysis: Auburn sputters in 20-3 loss to Texas A&M

Rewinding the Tigers’ road loss to the Aggies

Auburn starting defensive back misses Texas A&M game

The result was Auburn’s lowest-scoring game since being shut out in the 2012 Iron Bowl, its fewest yards per play offensively (3.2) since a 2017 loss at Clemson (1.77) and its fewest yards of total offense (226) since last year’s lopsided loss at Georgia (216).

“Everything just seemed a click off,” tight end John Samuel Shenker said.

It was a nightmare of an offensive performance for Auburn, which mustered a lone Anders Carlson field goal in the first quarter but otherwise failed to find any sort of success against a stellar Texas A&M defensive gameplan by Aggies defensive coordinator Mike Elko.

Outside of Carlson’s 32-yarder, which capped a 60-yard scoring drive, the Tigers managed just 128 yards of total offense over their other 11 drives Saturday. That included seven punts — with a trio of three-and-outs and four five-play possessions that ended with a punt — a missed 33-yarder by Carlson, a Nix fumble returned by a touchdown for Texas A&M, a turnover on downs and a late interception thrown by Nix.

The Tigers’ longest play of the game, a 21-yard completion in the fourth quarter, was overturned and ruled an incompletion upon review. Auburn finished with just one explosive passing play (a 15-yarder) and five carries of at least 10 yards, but none longer than Jarquez Hunter’s 14-yarder on the game’s opening drive.

“I just don’t think we found that play, that momentum, that spark to really get us—on the offensive side in particular—to get us going,” Auburn coach Bryan Harsin said. “And we had our opportunities, and you know, there was plenty of self-inflicted wounds that we had in there: dropped passes, we lost the ball -- we fumbled it. Obviously, they scored on defense, which is a big part of it. So, there were plenty of things that we can control that we didn’t help ourselves with, and, you know, that hurt our offense, hurt our team.”

While Auburn had a difficult time establishing the run against Texas A&M — finishing with 73 yards rushing and 2.5 yards per carry — the Tigers didn’t get much help from the other aspects of the offense. Following the best month of his three-year career, Nix struggled mightily against the Aggies. The junior quarterback completed just 20-of-41 passes for 153 yards, committed a pair of turnovers and was sacked four times.

It was the second time this season and sixth time in his career that Nix failed to complete at least 50 percent of his passes, and his cause wasn’t helped by a receiving corps that saw some of its issues with dropped passes again bubble to the surface.

As formidable as Texas A&M’s defensive effort was, many of Auburn’s biggest issues at Kyle Field were self-inflicted—particularly early in the fourth quarter when the game was still in the balance. With Auburn trailing 9-3 early in the fourth, the Tigers tried to get things going with a flea-flicker, but the play was an utter failure and borderline disaster—saved only by Nix’s ability to throw it away under pressure.

The backbreaker came on the following snap, when Nix lost the ball while trying to evade a sack from Texas A&M’s Jayden Peevy. Aggies defensive end Michael Clemons scooped up the loose ball and returned it 24 yards for the game’s only touchdown, pushing Texas A&M’s lead to 14 after a two-point conversion.

“It comes down to some execution,” Harsin said. “It comes down to creating some momentum. That’s what we’ve been able to do (throughout the season), and we didn’t create that momentum to really get us going and to get the drive going the way we need to and having those type of plays we had in the past.”

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

[AUCE05 369]

Bo Nix is finishing up his 3rd season in the SEC.  He has had access to a D1 coach since middle school.  He has had 3 college OCs.  With all the advantages one could have at the QB position, he still has terrible footwork, horrible decision making skills and makes game killing mistakes for his team.  At some point, we have to stop giving him a pass and bench his ass.  Bo is what he is at this point.  

[Didba 5,303]

3 hours ago, AUCE05 said:

Bo Nix is finishing up his 3rd season in the SEC.  He has had access to a D1 coach since middle school.  He has had 3 college OCs.  With all the advantages one could have at the QB position, he still has terrible footwork, horrible decision making skills and makes game killing mistakes for his team.  At some point, we have to stop giving him a pass and bench his ass.  Bo is what he is at this point.  

Points at Gus's lack of development of Nix and his hatred of Oline recruiting.

 

Not on Nix imo, no stability or development in his three years at Auburn.

[AUAlumnTN 211]

Auburn doesn’t have the roster talent to overcome bad execution of a mediocre game plan on the road against a quality opponent. That’s been the case for a while now. For all of A&M’s shortcomings under Jimbo, recruiting hasn’t been one of them. 

Auburn’s offense was going to need at least a B+ effort to hang with A&M’s defense and we got a D- effort from the coaches on down. You hate to see it in a game with these stakes. 

[shabby 1,958]

3 hours ago, Didba said:

Points at Gus's lack of development of Nix and his hatred of Oline recruiting.

 

Not on Nix imo, no stability or development in his three years at Auburn.

pretty sure he has a differen coach this year. If he doesn't show improvement this year what does that say?

[bigbird 60,624]

17 minutes ago, shabby said:

pretty sure he has a differen coach this year. If he doesn't show improvement this year what does that say?

He has shown a lot of improvement from the previous seasons. Not necessarily where he should be or where anyone wants him to be, but he's improved a lot.

[e808 3,028]

36 minutes ago, AUAlumnTN said:

Auburn doesn’t have the roster talent to overcome bad execution of a mediocre game plan on the road against a quality opponent. That’s been the case for a while now. For all of A&M’s shortcomings under Jimbo, recruiting hasn’t been one of them. 

Auburn’s offense was going to need at least a B+ effort to hang with A&M’s defense and we got a D- effort from the coaches on down. You hate to see it in a game with these stakes. 

For me the game had a weird vibe from the first play on offense. It just went downhill from there. We all know the recipe for a win is not having Bo pass 30 plus times. The first play of the game indicated he would be passing a lot which is never a good thing

[LPTiger 5,259]

Dan Mullen thinks our offense may have had the flu.   It and the 40 points USCe scored cost him the USCe game.  

[AUAlumnTN 211]

20 minutes ago, e808 said:

For me the game had a weird vibe from the first play on offense. It just went downhill from there. We all know the recipe for a win is not having Bo pass 30 plus times. The first play of the game indicated he would be passing a lot which is never a good thing

In retrospect, neither team was particularly sharp offensively but Texas A&M’s game plan was at least coherent: wear us down with the run game and try to feed Wydermyer in favorable spots as often as possible. Not a bad plan. Auburn’s defense just defended it very well. On the flip side, I have NO IDEA what we were trying to accomplish schematically. 

[JuscAUse! 1,526]

5 minutes ago, AUAlumnTN said:

In retrospect, neither team was particularly sharp offensively but Texas A&M’s game plan was at least coherent: wear us down with the run game and try to feed Wydermyer in favorable spots as often as possible. Not a bad plan. Auburn’s defense just defended it very well. On the flip side, I have NO IDEA what we were trying to accomplish schematically. 

Amen. Look. I would have had Bo on the sidelines when he panicked in the third quarter and gently reminded him to freaking breathe twice before he bailed the pocket. 5 would be pouting on the bench after the first drop. But our game plan was.......what? We passed on first down early and it worked. So we ran on first down. With 9 or 10 in the box if I remember correctly. I had an adult beverage or three......so correct me if I am wrong.

 

 

 

 

[shabby 1,958]

1 hour ago, bigbird said:

He has shown a lot of improvement from the previous seasons. Not necessarily where he should be or where anyone wants him to be, but he's improved a lot.

Statistically.... has he? 

https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/bo-nix-1.html

Edited November 7, 2021 by shabby

[tigerman1186 537]

The OL got man handled and I hope we come back better....even SC looked good...

[bigbird 60,624]

1 hour ago, shabby said:

Statistically.... has he? 

https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/bo-nix-1.html

I'm not sure. I am sure that he is better working within the pocket. He is better at staying in the pocket. He has a better platform. He doesn't throw of the back foot much anymore. He goes through progressions. He understands and utilizes check downs. 

Those things may have not shown up statistically, but it is significant improvement in his game.

[shabby 1,958]

22 minutes ago, bigbird said:

I'm not sure. I am sure that he is better working within the pocket. He is better at staying in the pocket. He has a better platform. He doesn't throw of the back foot much anymore. He goes through progressions. He understands and utilizes check downs. 

Those things may have not shown up statistically, but it is significant improvement in his game.

I feel like all of what you said is true except whenever he faces a team that brings pressure. Then he reverts

[JDUBB4AU 5,138]

[aubaseball 2,714]

This sums up the offense for this game.  Totally clueless on where the ball is going to come down 

[bigbird 60,624]

7 minutes ago, shabby said:

I feel like all of what you said is true except whenever he faces a team that brings pressure. Then he reverts

Yes and no. Most people argue over whether if it's the WR, QB, or OL fault.  Truth is, it's a bit of all three, they're all symbiotic. The line affects the QB, the QB affects the line and WRs, the WRs affect the QB.  Truth is all three positions are deficient.

You're right though, Bo doesn't play his best against pressure. Neither do the other two groups. Would Bo be better if the line was better at picking up blitzes? Would Bo be better if the WRs achieved better separation and consistently caught the ball?  Absolutely to both questions.

Conversely, would the blocking scheme be more effective is Bo didn't bail early? Would the receivers catch more consistently if the ball was placed more accurately? Would the receivers be better if Bo threw them open? Absolutely to all three questions.

 

This loss was bad but it was definitely a team loss. We were bad at every position on offense, players and coaches. Unlike the 117 yards against Clemson, I feel like this performance will be an anomaly and not the norm.

[bigbird 60,624]

1 minute ago, aubaseball said:

This sums up the offense for this game.  Totally clueless on where the ball is going to come down 

At first, I thought the same thing but then I thought, It's a fade to the corner, why would Kobe be looking 7 yards away over the wrong shoulder. 

 

[AU-24 3,124]

2 hours ago, AUAlumnTN said:

In retrospect, neither team was particularly sharp offensively but Texas A&M’s game plan was at least coherent: wear us down with the run game and try to feed Wydermyer in favorable spots as often as possible. Not a bad plan. Auburn’s defense just defended it very well. On the flip side, I have NO IDEA what we were trying to accomplish schematically. 

There was certainly no plan and no adjustment to block the front seven, let alone when they blitzed a safety now and again.

Maybe go empty backfield keep two TE’s in to block and hope one of our average wide receivers gets open? Then hope Bo hits him with a pass and hope they actually catch it? Possibly that minus the turnovers could’ve kept us in the game and put some more points on the board, I don’t know? Maybe I’m asking too much.

On to the puppies!

[gr82b4au 5,568]

3 hours ago, bigbird said:

He has shown a lot of improvement from the previous seasons. Not necessarily where he should be or where anyone wants him to be, but he's improved a lot.

I agree. You can tell he has improved but he will never be what we all hoped he would be when he signed. It is what it is…

[aubaseball 2,714]

5 minutes ago, bigbird said:

At first, I thought the same thing but then I thought, It's a fade to the corner, why would Kobe be looking 7 yards away over the wrong shoulder. 

 

I agree on the fade to corner but it was (if I remember correctly) about a 30 yard fade.   When the ball was thrown he was hand fighting with the db, he got in position to find the ball but never located it and just threw his arms up like it was going to be thrown over the left shoulder.   In my eyes, it’s a lack of ball awareness.  It’s not just Hudson.  I don’t think #0 has it either.   I believe our best receivers are the tight end group.  I would like to see more of #6 and Capers.  

[bigbird 60,624]

2 minutes ago, aubaseball said:

it’s a lack of ball awareness.  

For sure!  We've had very few WRs over the years that actually had a high level of awareness or, if so, never allowed them to showcase it.

[auburnphan 6,050]

1 hour ago, bigbird said:

I'm not sure. I am sure that he is better working within the pocket. He is better at staying in the pocket. He has a better platform. He doesn't throw of the back foot much anymore. He goes through progressions. He understands and utilizes check downs. 

Those things may have not shown up statistically, but it is significant improvement in his game.

To be fair he may have always understood progressions and check downs!!!!!!    
 

I couldn’t agree with you more.  It is obvious the fundamental and mental parts of his game have improved this season.  I am pleased to see how well he has taken to the coaching and can’t wait to see him next year after a complete off season in the system..

[bigbird 60,624]

1 minute ago, auburnphan said:

To be fair he may have always understood progressions and check downs!!!!!!    

[AU9377 5,370]

10 hours ago, Didba said:

Points at Gus's lack of development of Nix and his hatred of Oline recruiting.

 

Not on Nix imo, no stability or development in his three years at Auburn.

Now it has advanced to a hatred of Oline recruiting.   Before long he will be accused of having linemen put down and allowing aliens to inhabit their bodies.