10.16.23 Football Articles

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247sports.com

 

PMARSHONAU Sunday reflections from Auburn and beyond

Phillip Marshall

8–10 minutes

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No magic pill for Auburn football

Auburn's football situation not unique

What does Auburn’s 48-18 loss at LSU on Saturday night mean going forward? It depends on how Auburn players respond to a situation that is anything but unique. It doesn’t mean Auburn will play that way for the rest of the season just like taking Georgia to the wire didn’t mean Auburn would play that way for the rest of the season. This is a team with little margin for error. That margin vanishes almost completely against a team as talented as LSU on the road.

Auburn’s offense had some moments against LSU, putting together three long drives. The Payton Thorne-led 84-yard drive late in the third quarter was, arguably, Auburn’s best drive of the season against a good team.

As much as the defense was abused, it held LSU down enough to allow a 17-0 deficit to become 20-10. And then LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels did what he does, leading four consecutive touchdown drives. He did the same against Arkansas, the same even in a 55-49 loss at Ole Miss and the same in a come-from-behind victory at Missouri.

What LSU did to Auburn’s defense was the same it has done to every defense it has seen since the opener against Florida State.

No magic pill for Auburn

It is not surprising that there is grumbling about the coach, the quarterback and more at Auburn. That is predictable. But this Auburn team, even before being beset by injuries on defense, was always going to have a difficult time. That was especially true of the four-game gauntlet of games at Texas A&M, at home against Georgia and at home next Saturday against Ole Miss.

Auburn doesn’t have an opponent remaining it can’t beat. Yes, that includes Alabama. But Auburn could lose to all those SEC opponents, too, maybe even including Vanderbilt on the road. Auburn has little depth and not enough playmakers. Changing quarterbacks would be no magic pill. There is no magic pill.

Most Auburn-LSU games are close, but when they aren’t, it’s blowout time

In the past 10 years, Auburn has beaten LSU 41-7 (2014) and 48-11 (2020), both at home. LSU has beaten Auburn 45-21 (2015) and now, 48-18, both at home. Before fretting too much, remember that none of those previous blowouts resulted in anybody's program being destroyed. Most Auburn-LSU games have been extremely close, but when one comes along that isn't, it tends to get out of hand. Both Tiger Stadium and Jordan-Hare Stadium are very difficult places to win.

I'm fairly certain that Les Miles in 2014 and Ed Orgeron in 2020, the year after a national championship, said their teams didn't play as well as they could have or should have. Hugh Freeze said the same Saturday night in Baton Rouge.

Auburn looked like a team getting better after it took Georgia to the wire. It didn't look that way Saturday. Back at home next Saturday, I believe the Tigers will give a much better account of themselves against Ole Miss. Will it be enough? Who knows? But Ole Miss, while very explosive on offense, doesn't have the depth of talent that LSU has. The biggest challenge facing Auburn players is to put Saturday night behind them. We will see if they can do it.

A big game at Jordan-Hare

Auburn’s game against Ole Miss on Saturday will have some significant storylines. The biggest one, of course, will be Hugh Freeze taking on the team he led to prominence and left amid controversy that threatened to end his career. And then there’ll be Lane Kiffin returning to Auburn after he was a central figure in Auburn’s coaching search.

It’s a big game. No. 13 Ole Miss needs to win to hang on to a longshot hope of winning the West. Auburn needs to win to take another step toward a bowl game and to wash away the bitter taste from LSU.

Jordan-Hare Stadium at night is no picnic for opponents in any season. Ole Miss has won at Jordan-Hare just three times ever and not since 2015.

Every Saturday is different in college football

Florida couldn’t have looked worse than it did in being manhandled by Kentucky. In the two games since, Florida has blown out Vanderbilt and come from 10 points behind to win at South Carolina. Kentucky has been blown out 51-13 at Georgia and 38-17 by Missouri at home.

Bad times for Jimbo Fisher

Would Texas A&M really fork over more than $70 million to send head coach Jimbo Fisher packing? I have no way of knowing, but he is not in a good place.

The Aggies are champions on the recruiting trail. On the field, not so much. They fell short again Saturday at Tennessee. Despite a jaw-dropping guaranteed contract, Fisher has lost fewer than four games once in the previous five seasons. Last season, the Aggies were 5-7. They have three losses this season.

Fisher is two games behind where Kevin Sumlin was at the same point in his tenure at Texas A&M. The Aggies have lost eight consecutive road games.

Texas A&M has everything it takes to be successful – money, fan base, recruiting power, facilities. Yet, no Texas A&M team has won even a division championship since winning the Big 12 in 1998. Strange. Very strange.

Some predictions

--Payton Thorne will start at quarterback for Auburn against Ole Miss.

--Auburn will again try to keep the ball away from Ole Miss’ offense but will execute much better at home than it did at LSU and will have success in the running game.

--After Saturday’s game, you see Auburn speed up its offense.

--Bo Nix won’t win the Heisman Trophy, but he will be invited to New York City for the ceremony.

Who leads the college football pack?

Who has the best team in the country? I have no clue. Georgia is undefeated but scuffling. Michigan has not played a soul, though it has beaten those bad teams like a great team should. Ohio State is kind of like Georgia, winning but not overly impressive. Is it Oklahoma? Is it Washington? The Huskies would probably have a loss today had head coach Dan Lanning not made some unusual decisions.

The stretch run is going to be quite interesting.

Pac-12 the best? Or not?

Maybe the Pac-12 really is the strongest conference in the country. Certainly, Washington and Oregon are among the better teams in the country. On the heels of a 48-20 beatdown at Notre Dame, USC just as clearly is not. Washington State has come crashing back to earth, too, as has Utah.

The Pac-12 is good. Whether it is the best remains to be seen.

Until next time …

Snap counts, advanced stats from Auburn's 48-18 loss at LSU

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si.com

 

Five stock fallers from Auburn's blowout loss to LSU

Lance Dawe

4–5 minutes

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The Tigers were blown out by LSU on Saturday night.

There weren't a lot of positives to take away from the game. Coming out of a bye week it feels like almost nothing has changed. Outside of a couple of personnel changes at receiver, the Tigers looked flat. With two weeks to prepare against a team that gave up over 37 points per game.

Here are five stock fallers for Auburn after the loss.

Larry Nixon III

Nixon continues to struggle according to PFF. He has the fourth-lowest defensive grade on the team despite having played the fourth-most total snaps of any defensive player. He has the most missed tackles of any player (seven), had three of them this past week and has the worst coverage grade on the team by wide margin (39.2, next closest 51.2) has has given up more catches than anyone on defense.

He's not been performing well.

Zion Puckett

Puckett gave up a team-leading 86 passing yards against LSU. On the season he's given up the most yards (247, the next closest is Kayin lee at 241) and the most touchdown passes (three). Without Jaylin Simpson on the field, Auburn's safeties are a liability and they aren't getting any better.

Avery Jones

Jones is struggling with consistency at center. He had a couple of high snaps that cost Auburn dearly in short-yardage situations two weeks ago against Georgia and he started the LSU game off with a wild snap on the first drive. He had the second-worst PFF grade among offensive players and needs to improve.

Jarquez Hunter

Hunter looks like the third-best running back on this team right now.

If Damari Alston was healthy, we'd be having legitimate conversations about whether or not the Tigers should start to give more touches to other players in the room. It feels like things are beginning to move that way.

Here's how Auburn's running backs looked on Saturday night:

Jeremiah Cobb - 10 att. 69 yards (6.9 YPC)

Brian Battie - 6 att. 20 yds (3.3 YPC)

Jarquez Hunter - 7 att. 16 yards (2.3 YPC)

For the season, Hunter has the lowest yards per carry on the team (3.8) and the most carries (57). Brian Battie (172 yds, 4.8 YPC), Damari Alston (131 yds, 5.0 YPC), and Jeremiah Cobb (150 yds, 6.5 YPC) have all been more effective runners for the Tigers this season.

The offensive coaching staff

For the second game in a row, the offensive staff is a stock faller.

Auburn completed 15-of-27 passes for 154 yards and one touchdown against LSU. Before facing Auburn, LSU was giving up 285.3 passing yards per game. They're one of the worst secondaries in the country. Overall, they're one of the worst defenses in the nation.

This team was coming off of a bye week. Understand that adjusting expectations heading into this season was important. Auburn wasn't going to do anything special this year.

How is that the offensive product put onto the field after an extra week of preparation against a horrible defense? How is it that bad?

Auburn is now averaging less passing yards per game than their 2012 team. You know, the one that went 3-9? That should be a cause for concern.

There should not be an expectation for the Tigers to win games against big time opponents.

But to lose by 30 after the opponent was favored by 11, two weeks after nearly beating the No. 1 team in the country?

This cannot be blamed solely on lack of talent. This is a coaching issue.

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al.com

Auburn self-confesses to lack of effort in loss to No. 22 LSU

Updated: Oct. 15, 2023, 8:39 a.m.|Published: Oct. 15, 2023, 8:28 a.m.

7–9 minutes

After getting off the team buses and parading through the makeshift Tiger Walk outside of LSU’s Tiger Stadium on Saturday afternoon, the Auburn football team emerged from the away team tunnel and made its way onto the field two hours before kickoff – just as the Tigers do during every road game.

As players filed out of the tunnel wearing their matching navy travel suits, many of them held their phone in an outstretched hand, taking pictures and videos of the college football mecca that is LSU’s Tiger Stadium.

For Auburn’s many first-year transfers and freshmen, Saturday’s trip to Baton Rouge was likely a game that had been circled on the calendar for quite some time – a bucket list trip of sorts — especially considering the Auburn-LSU rivalry is in question as the SEC continues to craft a new conference scheduling format to include Texas and Oklahoma.

And if playing under the yellow light of the “Welcome to Death Valley” sign that sits affixed to one of the walls along the south endzone doesn’t get a team fired up, what will?

Unfortunately for Auburn, it’s left looking for an answer to that question after losing to the 22nd-ranked LSU Tigers 48-18 on Saturday night.

Though Auburn has left plenty to be desired from an Xs and Os perspective a number of times this season, there have been few – if any – situations in which Auburn’s heart and desire to win could be questioned.

This is a team that kept the No. 1 team in the country on the ropes for four quarters on Sept. 30.

This is also a team that traveled just less than 2,500 miles in its first road trip of the season in Week 2 and managed to squeak out a win over Cal.

Both of those performances from Auburn – though they ended in different results in the wins and losses column – required an undeniable amount heart and effort.

However, both those things were lacking when Auburn took the field at LSU. And that’s not coming from someone who just watched the game from the press box Saturday night, that’s coming from the ones that were on the Auburn sideline Saturday night as the loss unfolded.

Auburn linebacker Eugene Asante has emerged as the Tigers’ passionate leader as the season has unfolded. It started way back in fall camp when Asante’s “Let’s work!” and “Work time!” catchphrases and his infectious energy took the Auburn locker room by storm.

But none of that was there Saturday night, Asante said.

“We need to be more juiced and ready to play the game and more excited to play the game. This is a big game,” Asante said after the loss. “We want to perform at the highest level. The effort level was low just to begin and it was fading in and out. It was very inconsistent tonight.”

Auburn’s defense was smacked in the mouth early by LSU’s high-octane offense as Jayden Daniels piloted a four-play, 75-yard touchdown-scoring march on the opening drive of the game.

Meanwhile, the Auburn offense continued its season-long trend of not being able to a spark away from Jordan-Hare Stadium as it combined for -8 yards after going three-and-out on back-to-back drives to open the game.

“That was certainly not a good way to start,” said Freeze, who said he wondered if the early struggles served as a nasty blow to his team’s morale.

Auburn went on to find itself in a 13-point deficit early as the LSU offense put up some sort of points in four of its first five drives.

And even then, the Auburn defense had a bit to hang its hat on after forcing Daniels and the Bayou Bengals to settle for a pair of field goals in the red zone – something Freeze said earlier in the week would be a key to Auburn’s success.

Auburn trailed LSU 20-7 by the intermission and was set to receive the ball to open the second half.

For the first time this season, backup quarterback Robby Ashford took the first offensive snap of the third quarter.

Ashford rushed for a yard on the first play, but Auburn still went backwards as a holding flag was thrown against tight end Brandon Frazier, giving Ashford and the Tigers a 2nd and 19 from their own 16-yard line to work with.

And, of course, Auburn was backed up right in front of the same LSU student section that forced it to commit a false start, burn a time out and nearly give up a fumble during Auburn’s first offensive drive of the game.

This time, however, with Ashford under center, Auburn sprinted down towards the more friendly side of Tiger Stadium, courtesy of a 39-yard pass play from Ashford to Frazier.

Auburn went on to have to settle for a 38-yard field goal off the foot of Alex McPherson, but the scoreboard’s margin had been trimmed to 10 points. And after many college football fans watched Stanford mount a 29-point comeback the night prior, it didn’t feel like Auburn was in “panic mode” territory.

But then Daniels and LSU’s offense happened again, and again, and again and again.

Daniels and the LSU offense had four possessions in the second half – two in the third quarter and two and the fourth quarter. And the home team ended their drive with a touchdown each time it had possession of the football Saturday night.

“We didn’t seem to have the same juice tonight,” Freeze said of the Auburn defense. “Didn’t think we played with the same intensity, but they’re really, really talented. You’ve got to give them credit too.”

And to be fair to the Auburn defense, Saturday’s loss all but falls squarely on the defense’s shoulders.

With LSU winning the time of possession battle by a considerable margin as the Auburn offense once again struggled to sustain drives, the Auburn defense was asked to chase around Daniels and the rest of the weapons on LSU’s explosive offense for nearly eight and a half minutes longer than what LSU’s defense had to defend Auburn – a tough ask for a defense that entered the game struggling with injuries and depth.

But when asked about some of the issues they faced Saturday night, those on Auburn’s defense didn’t use the lack of depth as a scapegoat.

“Whoever’s out there, regardless of what their name, number is, or class, we expect them to play at our standard and our level,” said Auburn Jack linebacker and team captain Elijah McAllister. “They didn’t do that. We didn’t do that as a defense.”

Auburn offensive lineman Kam Stutts, who was also elected a team captain before the start of the season, said it was up to the team’s captains to right the ship after a loss like the one Saturday night.

“We’re looking to get a big win here and we come up short. Leadership is big,” Stutts said. “We’re going to find out who the real leaders are and I’m going to do my best to make sure I’m one of those guys and encouraging people and uplifting people and keep us going in the right direction.”

Moving forward, it’ll be up to guys like McAllister and Stutts to find answers to the question previously raised: If playing under the lights of Tiger Stadium doesn’t fire you up, what will?

“We’ve got to own everything that’s on that field — the effort, the good and the bad. And go back to work and hopefully get better. This will test us; football does that. It will test us,” Freeze said after watching Auburn drop its third straight game of the season.

“The only way to get out of this funk is to work hard. To do that, you’ve got to have the right attitude and be able to put the past behind us, and at the same time own what we’re doing. I don’t know that we win the game, but we certainly could have played better.”

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247sports.com

Freeze Ive got to own Auburns unsightly showing at LSU

Nathan King

5–6 minutes

Saturday’s matchup at LSU was, in many ways, a tougher one for Auburn than even its previous game against No. 1 Georgia.

But the Tigers were confident their improvements in that loss to the Bulldogs — where they led in the second half and took the two-time defending national champions to the wire — represented an upward trajectory for the team heading into October. That’s not to mention the fact Auburn had a bye week to continue to harness whatever worked against Georgia on both sides of the ball.

Yet Saturday’s performance in Baton Rouge — one that yielded a 48-18 blistering at the hands of LSU — generated anything but confidence.

And for the first time this season, Hugh Freeze questioned the effort of his Auburn team — one that fell behind 17-0 early, righted the ship a bit, then was blasted by four straight LSU touchdown drives in the second half.

That criticism starts with the head coach, though, and he’s the first to admit that.

“I didn't think we fought as hard, but that's something I've got to own,” Freeze said postgame. “It's my job to get them to play hard. Maybe I'll watch the film and think differently, I don't know. Maybe it was the fact that they leaned on us and knocked us off the ball a little bit that made me feel that way, I don't know.”

Film isn’t required to know Auburn was no match for an elite LSU offense, and its offense didn’t have nearly enough execution to lend a hand. The Tigers allowed 206 yards across LSU’s first three drives but righted the ship a bit in the second quarter, with only a field goal given up, and an interception right before the half.

That allowed Auburn to trim the lead to 20-10 at the start of the third quarter, after backup quarterback Robby Ashford led a nice drive down the field. A 60-yard return on the ensuing kickoff was something Auburn just couldn’t afford, though, and its defense was back on its heels.

LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels was then a perfect 8-for-8 passing for 147 yards and two touchdowns in the second half. Auburn went three-and-out, then scored a touchdown to open the fourth quarter, but the game was essentially out of reach. Auburn wanted to control possessions as one of its keys to the matchup, and it had five drives in the second half to only four for LSU, but efficiency was sorely lacking — especially as starting QB Payton Thorne (12-of-23 for 102 yards) struggled once again.

“We've got to own everything that's on that field — the effort, the good and the bad,” Freeze said. “And go back to work and hopefully get better. This will test us; football does that. It will test us. The only way to get out of this funk is to work hard. To do that, you've got to have the right attitude and be able to put the past behind us, and at the same time own what we're doing.”

Freeze knew, just like the team’s previous two losses to Texas A&M and Georgia, that the Tigers were at a significant talent disadvantage on both sides of the ball. In that sense, execution was going to be at a premium.

So Auburn’s self-inflicted errors, particularly early in the game that helped create a 17-0 hole, were frustrating. On the Tigers’ first two drives alone, both three-and-outs, they had two pre-snap penalties, and a bad snap coming out of a timeout that led to a 12-yard loss on third down.

“I don't know that we win the game, but we certainly could have played better,” Freeze said. “That's a really, really good offense. We didn't play our best, for sure.”

Prior to Saturday’s meeting, seven of the last eight matchups between Auburn and LSU had been decided by five points or fewer. Even if Auburn didn’t pull off the upset as a double-digit underdog, it wanted to display continued improvement moving into the second half of the season.

They know their mental steadiness will now be tested after their worst margin of defeat to a team not named Alabama or Georgia since Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M won 63-21 at Auburn in 2012.

“We're looking to get a big win here and we come up short,” offensive guard Kam Stutts said. “Leadership is big. We're going to find out who the real leaders are.”

A three-game stretch where Auburn was almost guaranteed to be a significant underdog is now complete, but a third straight ranked opponent looms next Saturday in No. 13 Ole Miss.

“We have to put the best foot forward from here on out and play the way we know we can play,” linebacker Eugene Asante said.

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al.com

Hugh Freeze questions Auburn’s gameplan, considers higher-paced scheme in loss to LSU

Updated: Oct. 15, 2023, 9:28 a.m.|Published: Oct. 15, 2023, 9:15 a.m.

5–7 minutes

Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze walks on the sideline in the first half of an NCAA college football game against LSU in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)AP

Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze never takes long to come to his postgame press conferences. It doesn’t give him much time to digest all of what happened on the field and certainly no time to look back at any film. But as he sat down in the aftermath of a blowout 48-18 loss to No. 22 LSU, he questioned the plan he brought into Baton Rouge.

Auburn’s offense struggled through the first half scoring only seven points and falling into many of the same mistakes it had faced in its road games before the bye week.

In the second half, Freeze experimented and started backup quarterback Robby Ashford, but didn’t stick with him long before reverting back to starter Payton Thorne. While the quarterback rotation was confusing, Thorne did have likely his best-sustained patch of success on the road between the eight-minute mark of the third quarter through the eight-minute mark of the fourth quarter. He completed seven of eight passes during that stretch and became the first individual Auburn passer to throw for more than 100 yards against a Power 5 opponent in almost a full calendar year.

The offense found that bit of rhythm and had its best quarter of the game in the third quarter going for over 100 yards as a team — the only quarter where Auburn did that. It’s because Auburn played with a much higher tempo at that point in the game.

Freeze said that was something Auburn coaches had discussed, but didn’t plan on doing in the game. Maybe they were wrong.

“You’ve just got to balance it each week,” Freeze said of playing with tempo. “I don’t know that we’re built to be in a scoring match right now with LSU or Ole Miss next week, both are extremely talented and good offensively. But maybe it is. Maybe we should. We can see how we perform. That wasn’t the plan coming in and I doubt it will be going forward.”

Freeze’s concern with the higher-tempo offense is it could leave an already tired and stretched defense on the field for longer. Yet Auburn already left its defense on the field for nine more minutes than the offense against LSU.

“Do we say we’re going to be a tempo offense and know that’s going to cost us more plays on a defense that’s very, very thin, and doesn’t have much depth,” Freeze said. “That’s a tough decision for sure. Tempo does help you. But you’ve just got to try to balance that and do what’s best for our team.”

But it is curious to watch Auburn continue in its struggle to find any offensive identity. Especially when playing at a high pace has long been a conversation around Auburn’s team.

All the way back at the beginning of August, much of the discussion around the offense was playing at a high pace in practice in order to play with that in the season and then in turn prepare the defense to face it.

“Man, I would say it’s really different,” wide receiver Malcolm Johnson Jr. said on Aug. 8. “The up-tempo offense -- sometimes your head spins. But it also sometimes confuses the defense, and that makes it easier for us to capitalize. It’s really different -- especially the conditioning that it takes.”

Offensive lineman Dillon Wade said in August that tempo could give Auburn an edge because it catches the defense “lacking.” Linebacker Austin Keys said the speed Aubrun played with in fall camp resembled what he saw with Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss before he transferred to Auburn after the 2022 season.

And then Auburn went away from that pace as the season has gone on. It has tried to establish itself as a running team, but then went away from running as it leaned heavily on the pass early against LSU and fell behind quickly.

Tempo may be the offensive identity Auburn could try next. Not much Auburn has tried has worked to this point. Auburn’s passing offense is now ranked 120th out of 130 FBS teams and the total offense is ranked 100th out of the same 130.

Freeze is right that the group can’t keep up with offenses like LSU or Ole Miss, next week’s opponent. But his players think the tempo is something Auburn should try again in another game where it is overmatched.

“Playing with tempo definitely helps,” offensive lineman Kam Stutts said Saturday night. “It puts the defense in a rough spot, having to get lined up and then make those calls. Definitely something that helps your offense out. For sure something we’re looking at more of in the future.”

Freeze said before the LSU game that he didn’t change anything schematically over the bye week. It was just continuing to work on honing in small details that were missing in the first part of the season.

It appears Freeze could now be considering a schematic change. At least something has to change after another bad day for the offense — even if Freeze knows the offense this season won’t be good enough.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

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247sports.com

Blowout loss at LSU breeds more quarterback questions for Auburn

Nathan King

8–10 minutes

What entered the game as the SEC's least efficient passing offense struggled yet again in Baton Rouge

On paper, Auburn’s matchup with LSU seemed like the perfect opportunity for a get-right game.

Payton Thorne and the Tigers’ passing game had more than their fair share of struggles through five games, but LSU entered the game with the SEC’s second-worst passing offense.

There were moments, sure, but after a 48-18 loss in Baton Rouge, Auburn is still searching for consistency throwing the football this season, despite what could be some of its lightest defensive opposition of the season.

Thorne was just 5-of-13 passing for 36 yards before Hugh Freeze opted to make the change to backup Robby Ashford out of halftime.

“We were only two scores down to start the second half, so you want to start with the good stuff,” Freeze said of the decision to start Ashford to begin the second half. “I felt like that was our best option.”

Auburn’s offense was spotted a 17-0 hole by the time it got the ball for the third time, after two three-and-outs to open the game. Two early penalties, a mistimed snap that led to a 12-yard loss and an overall lack of execution early in the game was certainly disappointing for a team coming off a bye week.

“I felt really good about the plan,” Freeze said of Auburn’s offensive start, as the Tigers had -3 yards after two possessions. “I felt like we had a chance to maybe get some long drives and keep our defense on the sideline. We just never found any consistency, so it's disappointing, for sure.”

Thorne found some mojo to open Auburn’s third series, hitting receiver Camden Brown on back-to-back receptions of 15 and 12 yards to spark a touchdown drive to trim the deficit to 17-7. Thorne then threw six straight incompletions, though, as Auburn couldn’t carry any sort of offensive momentum through the rest of the first half. After the touchdown drive, Auburn punted on its next three series.

As usual, Auburn’s inefficiency through the air wasn’t all on Thorne. As was also the case against Georgia, Freeze said, particularly in the second quarter, Auburn’s pass-catchers had opportunities with the ball in the air. Thorne’s reads to throw fade balls on the outside when LSU was in press coverage were correct, Freeze said.

“We're not winning those battles,” Freeze said. “We were 0-for-3 on (fades), so we quit throwing them. It sure would be nice to win some of those because that's how that play is designed. I couldn't tell; all three of those were on the other sideline, and I couldn't tell if the routes were good or if the balls were good. I couldn't tell. Those were all three drives that put us in third-and-long, and that's just not a spot we're very good at right now.”

Ashford generated a spark for the offense when he was inserted, both at the end of the first half and at the start of the second half. He completed 3-of-4 passes for 52 yards and a short touchdown to Brandon Frazier, as Auburn’s most impressive completion of the day was his 39-yard shot to Frazier on third down at the beginning of the third quarter.

Ashford also had the offense moving with some confidence toward the end of the first half, following D.J. James' interception. But when Thorne was reinserted, the result was two straight incompletions, then a sack on third down.

Thorne had some late-game success, though, when he checked back in late in the third quarter and completed 4-of-5 passes for 57 yards on a drive that ended with Frazier’s short touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter. Thorne finished 12-of-23 for 102 yards, as he's now completing just 54 percent of his passes against Power Five opponents this year.

The Tigers played with a bit more tempo at that point in the game, facing a large deficit and looking to trim the lead before it was too late. It’s not as simple as playing with that pace all the time, though.

“That's a really tough balance and something we're debating,” Freeze said. “Do we say we're going to be a tempo offense and know that's going to cost us more plays on a defense that's very, very thin, and doesn't have much depth? That's a tough decision for sure. Tempo does help you. But you've just got to try to balance that and do what's best for our team.”

As Freeze admitted, something has to change for Auburn offensively — with the inconsistencies in the passing game at the center of things — considering the SEC’s No. 2 scoring offense is next, when the Tigers host Ole Miss next Saturday in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

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auburnwire.usatoday.com

 

Winners and losers from Auburn's loss to LSU

Taylor Jones

3–4 minutes

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The ebbs and flows continue for Auburn football, as they dropped a tough one in Baton Rouge on Saturday night.

The No. 20 LSU Tigers were in complete control of the game from the very beginning and cruised to a 48-18 win. LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels strengthened his Heisman campaign by throwing for 325 yards and three touchdowns.

In the game, there were a few highs and a few lows, and we have examined all of them.

Here are the winners and losers from Auburn’s tough loss to LSU on Saturday night.

Austin Perryman/Auburn Tigers

Auburn is guilty of needing time to “warm up” and Saturday’s game further proved the label to be true. Auburn needed three possessions to find the scoreboard while LSU’s first four possessions ended with points. It is hard to compete when your opponent takes greater strides.

Jamie Holt/Auburn Tigers

Asante was one of the few bright spots on Auburn’s defense. He led the team in tackles with 12. He also earned a sack and a quarterback hurry.

© SCOTT CLAUSE/USA TODAY Network / USA TODAY NETWORK

The passing game is also cold coming off of the bye week. In the first half, Auburn passers completed just 6-of-14 passes for 64 yards. Robby Ashford completed just one pass for 10 yards, while Payton Thorne completed just 38% of his passes.  Auburn ended with 154 total yards and a touchdown.

Jamie Holt/Auburn Tigers

We mentioned the passing struggles early in this list, but there is one upside to the aspect of the game. Auburn entered the game without a 100-yard passer in five straight SEC games, a streak which ended on Saturday. Payton Thorne passed for 102 yards, which is the highest passing output for an Auburn quarterback since Auburn’s 41-27 loss to Arkansas on Oct. 29, 2022.

Austin Perryman/Auburn Tigers

The Auburn run game failed to find momentum in the game. A total of five rushers gained 139 yards on 34 carries, with the top rusher gaining 69 yards on 10 carries.

Austin Perryman/Auburn Tigers

Auburn’s offense did not produce high numbers on Saturday, but Ashford found a way to have a solid game. Ashford connected on 3-of-4 passes for 52 yards and gained 19 yards on the ground on five carries.

© SCOTT CLAUSE/USA TODAY Network / USA TODAY NETWORK

It is never a warm feeling when one opposing player accounts for more yards than your entire offense. Auburn’s offense gained just 293 yards on Saturday. LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels himself gained 418 yards. He passed for 325 yards while the LSU run game gained 238 yards.

Matthew Hinton-USA TODAY Sports

Due to the SEC’s addition of Oklahoma and Texas in 2024, secondary rivalries such as Auburn-LSU will not be played every season. Saturday’s game marked the final time that Auburn and LSU will play for the foreseeable future.

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al.com

Grading Auburn’s 48-18 loss to No. 22 LSU: Freeze, staff get failing mark

Updated: Oct. 15, 2023, 8:34 a.m.|Published: Oct. 15, 2023, 6:10 a.m.

8–10 minutes

Saturday night in Death Valley was not kind to Auburn as it lost 48-18 to No. 22 LSU. It was another dismal display on the road and another incomplete showing in SEC play.

Auburn dropped to 3-3 overall with the loss and is 0-3 in conference play with another difficult team looming next week against Ole Miss.

Let’s get right into this week’s report card in the aftermath of this loss:

Offense: D

Of Auburn’s three bad days from the offense in its three road games, this was certainly the best of them. But that’s a backhanded compliment, because the bar is quite low, especially coming off the Texas A&M loss in September.

Here’s what Auburn accomplished positively, first. Auburn passed for 100 yards against a Power 5 opponent this season and the first time Auburn’s done it in nearly a year. Originally, Auburn only crossed that 100-yard mark as a team combining quarterbacks Payton Thorne and Robby Ashford before Thorne got to 100 yards on his own later in the game. Second, Auburn showed balance offensively over the course of the whole game. Auburn was better, but not quite good, in terms of penalties on the road. Jeremiah Cobb had a really solid showing, especially in the second half. Head coach Hugh Freeze said after the game he thinks Cobb is going to be a great player eventually.

Okay, now here’s what went wrong.

Auburn still doesn’t have a playmaking pass catcher and that showed up on a day when Auburn tried very hard early on to establish a passing offense and failed to do so.

Auburn looked like its typical self in the first half with completely ineffective passing and poor play on third downs. Auburn went 3-12 on third downs in this game. It averaged fewer than 5 yards per game and roughly half of LSU’s yards per play total. Auburn also had the ball for about nine fewer minutes than LSU’s offense.

The quarterback rotation seemed stubborn again as Auburn tried so hard to make things work with Thorne in the first half before eventually having the hand forced to give the show to Ashford, who played well enough to start the second half and lead one full drive before Auburn went back to Thorne.

It appeared Thorne had been benched, but he hadn’t been.

When Thorne came back, Auburn eventually found some consistency when it ran a more up-tempo offense with Thorne. After a first half of virtually trying nothing new, Auburn experimented far more in the second to limited success.

Outside of Cobb in the second half, Auburn didn’t have a particularly efficient runner, quarterback or running back.

Auburn has played three games on the road and the offense has been bad in all of them. But this was, by four points, the most Auburn has scored on the road. Auburn had 293 yards of offense — the most of all three road games. Though none of those stats are exactly ones to be proud of.

It came against possibly the worst defense statistically Auburn has played all year. But Auburn’s bad offense may have given the LSU defense something to build on.

Freeze said he knows Auburn’s offense can’t score like LSU and Ole Miss can. He’s right. And he’s stuck with it.

Defense: D

Both linebacker Eugene Asante and jack linebacker Elijah McAllister spoke to reporters post-game and post said Auburn’s defensive effort was poor.

It would be easy to blame that on being out on the field for so much time because Auburn’s offense struggled so much. Or it could be blamed on the injuries.

But that lack of effort and energy started right from the start of the game. Auburn knew it couldn’t stop LSU, it could only slow down, but the defense was just being gashed for a big gain every time you could look up. At one point in the second quarter, LSU was legitimately on pace for 900 total yards in the game and instead finished the “lowly” total of 563 yards.

That is a ton of yards. And Auburn had no resistance or hardly any fight. Auburn also allowed 48 points. Both are historic totals for bad defense within the program.

LSU rushed for more than 200 yards averaging just over six yards per carry and star quarterback Jayden Daniels threw for 325 yards. It’s easy to tell why LSU’s offense is regarded so highly.

But this defense had absolutely zero answers and certainly appeared like it had given up at times.

Special Teams: Pass

The special teams took a pass/fail class in this game, and they passed. Largely it’s because the special teams’ elements required from this game were fairly limited and not consequential.

Running backs Brian Battie and Jarquez Hunter combined to return four kicks and average 23 yards per return. Auburn didn’t return LSU’s one and only punt of the game.

Oscar Chapman was called on six times and averaged just over 45 yards per punt. Solid day.

Alex McPherson made his one-field goal.

Everyone did their job. It’s a pass.

Coaching: F

Auburn had two weeks to prepare for this game. It had two weeks to study the film, two weeks to fix all the things Freeze had talked about going into the bye week and make tweaks to find solutions to key problems. The idea was to leave what Freeze called “season one” — the first five games — in the past and move forward.

And yet Auburn had the same issues it’s had over and over again.

The first drive for the offense really encapsulated it. Auburn had a bad penalty, had to burn a timeout because it couldn’t get lined up right and then a totally botched snap. Two weeks to prepare for that drive and not being able to line up correctly is a problem.

Then Auburn continued to pass the ball in the first half heavily in an attempt to get a passing offense that has been bad all season some momentum against a bad secondary. It didn’t work. Auburn’s offense was worse than LSU’s poorly-ranked defense. But Auburn kept trying to pass anyway until it finally began to find some balance. Auburn was already down by two scores at that point.

Auburn tried to find an identity over the bye week, and it still hasn’t found one. It reverted back to what appeared some haphazard quarterback rotation, especially with regard to giving Ashford a second-half start because he played well in the first half just to roll right back away from him on the next drive. Thorne was successful in the second half at times, but that came when Auburn used a more up-tempo offense which Freeze said Auburn had discussed but hadn’t planned to use. And he is questioning if maybe he should use it more going forward.

Losing to LSU is not the issue. Auburn was expected to lose the game and doing so by such a margin was certainly not the goal, but the margin of the loss feels less notable than the recurrence of issues that had been discussed and Auburn had time to fix. All the while doing this against a defense that had been ranked in the bottom 10 nationally for total defense.

And, again, defensively, Auburn had a lack of effort.

The team looked unprepared. The first half play of the offense appeared stubborn. This was a failure.

Overall: D

Losing 48-18 is not a good look on the season schedule. But 3-3 is where reasonable expectations would have had Auburn to this point in the season. Auburn has won every game it was supposed to win and lost every game it was supposed to lose. It’s met expectations.

But this performance both on and off the field raised a lot of questions about what Auburn will be able to do when it inevitably will be favored to win against an SEC team. Auburn will likely be expected by the oddsmakers to beat Vanderbilt and Mississippi State.

But while Freeze knows his offense isn’t good enough to score with the likes of LSU or Ole Miss, Auburn also hasn’t proven it has the capability to compete with the bottom of the SEC.

This was Auburn’s first all-around bad performance on both sides of the ball this season. That was furthered by the failing coaching grade.

Auburn thought it had something to build on after Georgia. It is now back to searching.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

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there is audio it just takes minute to kick in. their bad not mine............................

Edited October 16, 2023 by aubiefifty

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[SaltyTiger 8,579]

33 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

Would Texas A&M really fork over more than $70 million to send head coach Jimbo Fisher packing? I have no way of knowing, but he is not in a good place.

Sounds like he is in an excellent place but jmo…..thanks for all Fiddy. I have digested all of LSU one can handle. 

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i have a kidney docs appointment today { i am falling apart} but you can bet yo behind i will be rocking Auburn geat because i have no fear!. I never quit on Auburn. have a great day and remember better days are coming!

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2 minutes ago, SaltyTiger said:

Sounds like he is in an excellent place but jmo…..thanks for all Fiddy. I have digested all of LSU one can handle. 

it is hard but we are in transition and better days are ahead. some days i am not as happy as others but i never give up my love for my tigers! my opinion is give robby a half to start and see what he can bring. thorne needs to sit the bench a while and he needs to add some receivers with him.

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