In a way, the season has come full-circle. Auburn ended the way it started. The Tigers began the season by losing to the previous year’s national runner-up while fielding a fizzling offense undone by a baffling quarterback rotation, and they fell on Saturday to last year’s champion by being unable to move the ball thanks to a quarterback system that left them with one hand tied behind their backs.
Auburn’s regular season ended Saturday night with a 30-12 loss to top-ranked Alabama, and it was a slow, painful end to a regular season that’s seen both ends of the spectrum. This defeat didn’t match the pits that accompanied the loss to Georgia in Athens two weeks ago, but it was close.
Sean White dressed out, but he was only available to play in an ‘emergency-type deal,’ coach Gus Malzahn said, like if the two quarterbacks ahead of him had been injured.
Those two, Jeremy Johnson and John Franklin III, combined to pilot Auburn to 182 total yards. Against the vaunted Crimson Tide defense, struggles on offense are to be expected. But being unable to record a first down until five minutes had elapsed in the second quarter, and not being able to throw or move the ball downfield hardly at all, aren’t.
Johnson started for the second week in a row, and he ended the game 4-of-13 for 34 yards. While he was in, the only throws he tried were mostly screens and intermediate routes, which allowed Alabama to stack the box and focus on the run game. The Tigers entered averaging nearly 300 yards per game on the ground, but Kerryon Johnson and Kamryn Pettway combined for just 56. They were forced into longer third-down situations — they faced 12 third downs total, and converted just two. And without White to keep them honest, Alabama’s talented pass rushers were able to pin their ears back and pressure Johnson into throws that never had much of a chance.
Because the offense was unable to sustain drives, Auburn’s defense was forced to stay on the field much longer than they’d have liked to. Alabama ended the game with just over 40 minutes of possession, and the Tide were able to just eventually wear Auburn down.
“Our goal was to try and get third-and-six or less, and we just didn’t get it done,” Malzahn said. “We had the 20 plays in the first half, and I think three or four of those were negative plays...The third down and seven-plus, they’re the best in the country at that. That was definitely tough sledding. Still had a couple opportunities, came close on one or two, but that wasn’t the plan.”
Some opportunities were there, yes. Stephen Roberts returned Alabama’s punt on the opening possession of the game to the 21-yard line, but all Auburn could muster was a few negative plays and the first of four Daniel Carlson field goals. Later, Daniel Thomas recorded the first of his two interceptions. Again, nothing but a field goal came from it, and his other pick resulted in the same story. Auburn had three drives originate in Alabama territory, but had just nine points to show for it.
Despite the stagnation, Auburn only trailed 13-9 at the half. But the Tigers went three-and-out on their first possession of the third quarter, Alabama scored a touchdown on the next drive, and the game was out of reach. The defense did what it could, but the Tide will eventually figure out a way to break the opposition down, and the offense couldn’t do anything to challenge them on the other side of the ball.
“That’s the even more frustrating part, when you don’t play well and you’re still in the game, you still have every chance to win the game,” said Kerryon Johnson. “So it makes you think, what could we do if we were coming through on our end. It’s just crazy to think about.”
To spark the offense — to try anything — Malzahn inserted Franklin for Jeremy Johnson in the third quarter. Franklin knew earlier in the week he would play more than he had most of the year, and he did what he could to give Auburn life. He ran for 14 yards on three carries, and he threw a 55-yard bomb to Eli Stove — Auburn’s longest pass play of the game, and of the season — to get the Tigers deep in Alabama territory. But, once again, three points from the leg of Carlson was all they could muster.
“As a man, you’ve got to look at yourself in the mirror, and we just didn’t get the job done on offense. That’s point-blank period,” Franklin said. “Defense is gonna get tired, they’re gonna give up points like that if they’re on the field. So as an offense, we’ve got to look at ourselves in the mirror and we didn’t execute the way we’re capable of doing tonight, and that’s what it all comes down to.”
It’s not how Auburn envisioned its season ending after riding the high of that winning streak. After tonight — Gus Malzahn’s third-worst offensive performance as a head coach — the Tigers haven’t won an Iron Bowl since the 2013 classic, and they’ve lost six consecutive combined games to rivals Georgia and Alabama.
There is light at the end of the tunnel, though. Auburn can get that ninth win for the first time since that 2013 season, and the Tigers have plenty of young talent waiting in the wings to help them bounce back going forward.
“We got a really young team,” Malzahn said. “We got a lot of talented young guys. We’re gonna be really good in the future, so this is just one of those growing years of some ups and downs...the future is very bright, and we’ll rebound.”
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