Auburn broke ground on a hole in Starkville, Mississippi on its first offensive play.
By the time the digging stopped at 21-0, there were too many cowbells and Bulldogs in the way for the No. 2 Tigers to dig themselves out.
"We started out in a hole," head coach Gus Malzahn said. "I think we turned the ball over the very first two plays we had it and we got in a hole and their crowd got into it."
Auburn fell for the first time this season in front of a school-record crowd in Davis-Wade Stadium, but numerous uncharacteristic mistakes will likely haunt Malzahn and his team heading into an off week.
"The game is about momentum shifts," defensive lineman Angelo Blackson said. "There were momentum shifts everywhere, but at the end of the day we were just too deep in the hole. We kept on making mistakes. When you keep doing that against a great team like that, you usually can't win those."
Of the mistakes, quarterback Nick Marshall's most regular problem this season, having balls batted at the line, was the first of many for the Tigers.
"They are tall and lanky and then just they made good plays on the ball," Marshall said. "Being a quarterback, you just have to pick your windows to throw through. It's my job to pick throwing lanes to throw through."
The second mistake, a fumble by D'haquille Williams on Auburn's second play from scrimmage, only further deepened the hole.
The mistakes forced the defense to defend the short field, something linebacker Kris Frost said was a difficult task early in the game.
"It picked up our urgency," Frost said. "They gassed us on a few plays and it ended up coming down to us not fitting right on certain runs. They did a great job of mixing up the run and pass and giving us different looks."
While the Tigers were able to stop digging by the end of the first quarter, an uncharacteristic inability to convert in the red zone prevented Auburn from significantly cutting the deficit.
After the game, Malzahn placed much of the blame from the loss on the red zone struggles.
"I think a big factor in the game was our red zone offense and not being able to score touchdowns," Malzahn said. "I think we had two field goals in the first half and one miss. That was a bigger factor in the game."
With an off week looming ahead, the Tigers acknowledged that their playoff chances took a hit with the loss, but many said they took solace knowing they'd overcome a similar loss last season at LSU.
"We weren't executing at the high level we were supposed to," Marshall said. "We're just going to focus on that next week and get better."
LoadingCoach Gus Malzahn after the #AUBvsMSST game. (Photo credit: Raye May) #GusBus #WarEagle #AUvsMSU #AUvsMSST #BeatState #BeatMSU
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