Although Auburn's offense put up 630 total yards and 44 points on the No. 1 team in the country, players and coaches believe that too many field goals in the red zone limited their chances of beating the Tide in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
"Obviously it was a disappointing game," head coach Gus Malzahn said. "I think the name of the game really was that when we got in the red zone, we had to kick field goals."
Every time the Tigers' offense reached the red zone they ended up putting up points on the scoreboard, but five of those trips in the red zone resulted in three points rather than six.
"We kicked five [field goals] and didn't score our touchdowns," Malzahn said. "We had enough yards to score a whole bunch of points and that was probably the name of the game."
Auburn's first three scoring drives were all in the red zone, but were only good for nine points since all three were field goals from 24 yards or less from Daniel Carlson.
Auburn's hero of the first half, Sammie Coates, thinks that those failed attempts to cross the end zone early on may have hurt them in the final score. Coates did reach the end zone twice though with a 34-yard touchdown and a 68-yard touchdown catch as he finished his night with 206 yards.
"We got in the red zone a couple times and we got three points, but we needed touchdowns," Coates said. "That hurt us big time. But we never gave up. We just kept fighting the whole time."
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