Auburn Football Week 5 Recap: 16-10 Loss to Texas A&M

Opinions, ramblings, and questions following Auburn's loss to A&M.

Where to Even Begin?

Offensive Line
Half of Auburn’s 10 penalties came from the offensive line, all pre-snap. On the road, those mistakes are killing what little rhythm this offense can find. Hugh Freeze even singled out Xavier Chaplin for two false starts, blaming it on crowd noise. The unit showed almost no improvement from the Oklahoma game, and discipline up front continues to be a major liability. Kyle Field is one of the largest venues in college football — surely this team has been coached on a silent count?

Jackson Arnold
Just a few weeks ago, the run game was firing on all cylinders and Arnold looked like the second coming of Nick Marshall. Now he’s 39-for-65 for only 345 yards over the past two games.

What once felt like a strength now looks like a flaw; his clean interception stat line isn’t about smart decisions, it’s because he refuses to take shots to his receivers. If he won’t trust his receivers with Coleman and Singleton on the field, I don’t see how this gets fixed. The 15 sacks taken in the past two games may as well be turnovers.

Against A&M, he threw 33 times for only 3.8 yards per attempt.

A New Low for Freeze's Offense

I don't know how Auburn has reached a point where Cam Coleman and Eric Singleton are being wasted while the run game is abandoned. Again, Freeze admitted he should’ve run the ball more. We heard the same thing last year when Jarquez Hunter was under-used, yet nothing changes.

Former Auburn linebacker Chandler Wooten said it best:

"Freeze told me that running the ball was a priority after last week and the RB's had 8 carries. I don't like being lied to."

Auburn’s only real competitive win this year came against Baylor, when the Tigers ran the ball 52 times, split evenly among Cobb, Alston, and Arnold with 16 carries each, and threw just 17 passes. On their final 12-play scoring drive, they handed it off seven times. In that one drive alone, Auburn nearly matched the number of designed runs from the entire A&M game.

At 1–10 vs. ranked opponents and 5–13 in SEC play, the excuses are gone. The offensive guru Freeze is now in year three, with talent in place, and Auburn still managed just 177 yards of total offense against an A&M team that did everything possible to hand this game to Auburn.

If you have a quiet, hard worker, like Damari Alston posting (and quickly deleting) his frustrations like this after the game, you may have lost the locker room.

Defense

Although A&M totaled 414 yards, DJ Durkin called a great game and the defense played far beyond the threshold required for victory, giving Auburn every chance to win. The Aggies’ biggest threats, KC Concepcion and Mario Craver, were limited on A&M's signature big plays. Auburn held A&M to three 3rd down conversions on 14 attempts.

Xavier Atkins was the clear defensive player of the game. His 73-yard interception return eclipsed Auburn's rushing total of 52 yards. On top of that, he added 10 tackles, including a sack and a forced fumble.

The number of talented freshmen on the defense is remarkable, and Auburn will need to play their cards right to keep them around next year.

Looking Forward

Fortunately, the Tigers have a bye week before Georgia comes to Jordan-Hare. Auburn now has two weeks to work on what feels like an offseason’s worth of offensive problems: refusing to run the ball, a declining offensive line, inept playcalling, and a QB who doesn't trust his receivers. Where do you even begin?

And no — Deuce Knight is not the answer. Maybe Mark Pittman can save our offensive line.