The Tigers defeated the University of Louisiana at Monroe by a whisker Saturday, but the team's inconsistencies loom large despite the victory.
Auburn scored on the opening drive for the first time since Nov. 12 of last season and led at halftime for the first time this season.
Up 21-14 at the half, Auburn went into the locker room with momentum as the 85,214 fans witnessed the team they had been expecting since Sept. 1.
The running backs had 85 yards on 14 carries and Frazier was an efficient 9 of 12 passing for 114 yards and a touchdown in the first half.
Frazier connected on a 33-yard bomb to freshman receiver Sammie Coates and his 33-yard touchdown reception from wide receiver Quan Bray two minutes earlier had fans forgetting about the first two losses and thinking back to 2010.
Then the momentum shifted.
Auburn opened the second half with a touchdown, a 1-yard run by running back Tre Mason after a 65-yard drive.
From that point on, however, Auburn's offensive efforts resulted in three punts, a fumble and an interception and the team did not score again until the game winning field goal in overtime.
The offense seemed to lose their aggressiveness and balance in the second half.
Loeffler called 14 runs and 13 passes in the first half--a near 50/50 ratio.
In the second, Auburn ran the ball 28 times while only putting the ball in Frazier's hands six times.
Frazier completed one of his six second half attempts and ULM--facing the same 28-14 deficit they overcame against Arkansas last week--stormed back.
Mike Blakely's fumble inside the 5-yard line and Frazier's interception in ULM territory robbed Auburn of two scoring opportunities and raised questions about whether the team can close out games.
In addition to the offensive inconsistency, the defense was schizophrenic.
The team forced a number of fourth downs, but allowed the gutsy ULM offense to convert three of their four chances.
The Tigers also committed five of their seven penalties in the second half, two of them on ULM's game-tying drive with 4 minutes to play.
On 4th and 2 with Auburn up by seven, ULM quarterback Kolton Browning threw an incompletion that would have given Auburn the opportunity to ice the game with the ball at midfield.
Then the defense lost focus.
Defensive end Corey Lemonier jumped offsides on the play and gave them the first down.
The next play, safety Demetruce McNeal was caught holding ULM receiver Brent Leonard almost before the pass was thrown giving the Warhawks a free 15-yard gain.
ULM tied the game on that drive and Auburn fans began to look around to make sure they weren't in Little Rock.
Of course, with the bad and the ugly, there was also the good.
The defense allowed ULM to convert a 4th down on a fake punt and let them drive 61 yards to the Auburn 14-yard line.
There, however, Lemonier blocked a 31-yard field goal to keep the lead at 14.
In overtime, Auburn's defense showed its clutch play again with another blocked field goal by Angelo Blackson allowing Auburn to take possession and, eventually, the victory.
"There's a lot we're going to be able to look back at the end of this game and point to of corrections that were pretty glaring, but there were some positives too," said Gene Chizik. "It wasn't always pretty, but we beat a good football team today."
Make no mistake, Auburn looked the best they had all season and showed that the players and the system are beginning to coalesce.
The issue now for Auburn as they head into the the heart of the SEC schedule is if they can play up to that standard for 60 minutes.
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