A shower of light, steady rain sprinkled down on Jordan-Hare Stadium for a sizable portion of Auburn’s game against Texas A&M on Saturday. It was barely visible, but it was there.
But with roughly seven minutes remaining in the game, a steadier, more prominent trickle made its way through the humid summer night: Auburn fans, who had seen enough of the bloodshed, made their way across the stands, down the ramps and through the concourses, into the night and away from the Tigers, trying to put as much distance possible between themselves and Auburn’s sluggish, disappointing 29-16 loss to the Aggies.
Whatever progress the offense made against Arkansas State a week ago vanished. Auburn was only outgained 478-399 in total yards, but the Tigers ran 12 more plays and held the ball for three more minutes. The three-quarterback system was squelched, but the one-quarterback system didn’t offer up much on the side of positivity.
Sean White got off to a hot start and connected on all six of his passes in the opening quarter, but from that point on, he completed 12-of-21 throws for 64 yards, nearly all of which were quick, meaningless screens to the outside.
The holes in the running game that presented themselves so nicely last game were there for the most part, at least in the first quarter. Kamryn Pettway continued his impressive start to 2016 by scampering his way to 41 yards and a touchdown on seven carries, and White even found some room to maneuver when he wasn’t getting trampled by Myles Garrett.
But it all disappeared when the first 15 minutes were up.
The next time the Tigers scored a touchdown was with 2:59 left to play, when the game was well out of reach.
By that point, Malzahn plugged in John Franklin III at quarterback to give the offense “a shot in the arm.” It worked, kind of.
Franklin’s presence opened up the running game, giving Pettway all sorts of room he was missing in the middle quarters. Texas A&M’s defense had to respect Franklin’s speed on the outside, but he still managed to rattle off a handful of decent runs. It may have been a quick-fix type of deal, but Malzahn said “we’ll talk about things.”
Whatever he decides to do, it couldn’t reasonably get any worse than what he trotted out Saturday.
From a period beginning with 5:58 to go in the first quarter and ending with 15 seconds remaining in the third, here’s how Auburn’s drives went: Punt, Punt, Punt, Fumble, Punt, Field Goal, Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, Turnover on Downs.
Auburn punted nine times all game. The last time that happened was Oct. 15, 2011.
“Our whole offense, we’re a work in progress,” said Auburn coach Gus Malzahn. “It’s inconsistent, to say the least, and we’ve got to figure out a way to get better, and that’s the whole group. As far as offense, coaches, the whole bit, we’ve got to a better job offensively, and we’ve got to find a way to improve.”
It’s a testament to the defense that the game was still within striking distance up until Trayveon Williams broke an 89-yard back-breaking touchdown run with 6:52 to go in the game.
Trevor Knight, Christian Kirk and the Texas A&M offense were able to reach the red zone five times, but they only crossed the goal line once. Aggie kicker Daniel LaCamera booted five field goals, all but one of which were shorter than 40 yards.
But when the Auburn offense stagnated, began sputtering and started going 3-and-out on so many consecutive drives, the Auburn defense began tiring with such short breaks in between possessions. Eventually, they just wore down.
They managed to hold A&M to a stout 2-of-15 on third downs, but with the offense’s newly resurfaced struggles, it didn’t matter.
“It’s our job,” said linebacker Tre’ Williams. “That’s what we’re there for, to put the fire out. If the offense isn’t having a good night, it’s our job to stop them and get them to have less points than us...We are the Auburn Tigers, we play as one. When one side’s not doing well, then the other side’s got to pick it up. That’s some things we have to get better at, is picking it up even more to get off the field on third down to get the offense even more chances than they had.”
With yet another home loss, Malzahn’s seat may be heating up. And not because of the seat warmers in his new BMW.
Saturday marks the sixth home SEC loss in a row for Auburn. The last time the Tigers walked into the locker room of Jordan-Hare Stadium with an SEC win under their belt was Oct. 25, 2014, when Nick Marshall, Cameron Artis-Payne and Sammie Coates beat Steve Spurrier’s South Carolina team.
Auburn has also dropped seven straight games to Power 5 opponents, the second-longest streak in the nation. The only team with a more unfavorable streak is Colorado, which has fallen 10 consecutive times. By the way, the loss that started that streak was to Texas A&M.
LSU comes to town next week, and it might not be a stretch to say that game will have a monumental impact on Malzahn’s future at Auburn. He’s running out of time to fix things, and the clock is ticking closer to midnight with each mounting loss.
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