Auburn fans heard a certain mantra repeated all offseason by Bryan Harsin and his players: just watch. After Saturday’s performance against Missouri, nobody would blame Tigers fans if they ignored that advice and shut their eyes to escape from the horror show that unfolded in Jordan Hare Stadium.
Per CFBGraphs, Auburn’s offense entered conference play ranked 38th in EPA per rush and 101st overall in offensive EPA. Against a Mizzou squad that allowed 223 rushing yards and 40 points to Kansas State, Harsin’s unit posted just 217 yards from scrimmage, a pair of touchdowns and a field goal in a game that at one point featured twelve consecutive punts.
Auburn opened the game on fire, moving the ball with ease on the ground and scoring touchdowns on Tank Bigsby and Robby Ashford runs. However, after the scripted portion of the game plan ended, that momentum came to a grinding halt.
The three subsequent first half drives for Ashford and company ended in a punt, a punt and a missed field goal from 45 yards out. Two of those possessions resulted in net losses of yardage and the only positive sequence largely came off of a 15-yard gain by John Samuel Shenker that could have been called incomplete if not for the initial ruling of a catch.
Auburn came out of the half and responded with six consecutive punts, three of which followed three-and-outs. Missouri limited the Tigers to 95 total yards in the final thirty minutes of regulation, a defensive effort that culminated in a fourth and one stop at the Missouri 30 yard line on Auburn’s final possession before overtime.
The game only continued on the grace of Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz’s decision to run out the clock and kick a field goal, despite his offense sitting deep in Auburn territory with a full minute remaining and multiple downs to try and score. When Harrison Mevis missed the 26-yard chip shot, it gave the Auburn offense another chance to prove itself.
Instead, the Tigers promptly went three-and-out and nearly lost the game on an Ashford throw that was initially ruled an interception. Auburn snatched victory from the jaws of defeat thanks to that overturned call, a Missouri offside call wiping out a missed Anders Carlson field goal and an inexplicable fumble by Nathaniel Peat.
In the SEC, a win is a win no matter how you find it, but Harsin and offensive coordinator Eric Kiesau have work to do if they want to capture another conference victory next week against LSU. Harsin’s teams have been outscored 52-12 after halftime in their last four SEC games, and Saturday that differential almost became 55-12.
A key part of solving the lack of production is better play from the offensive line. Harsin admitted that the unit had work to do going forward.
“We struggled in some of our pass protection, no question. I also think they (the Missouri defense) did a good job, but that’s an area that we’re going to continue to emphasize and keep working on," Harsin said. "It’s not going to go away until we fix some of our own problems. We've got to be better on the offensive line. We got too much pressure.”
According to PFF, Auburn gave up 36 quarterback pressures on 45 dropbacks last week to Penn State and the big men up front once again had a rough outing. Averaging 1.8 yards per rush, while giving up four sacks and 12 tackles for loss, against a Missouri defensive line that allowed 5.5 yards per carry against Kansas State will not cut it against the rest of this schedule.
John Samuel Shenker felt that the Tigers only needed to carry over their execution from the first two drives of the game to get better results.
“Everyone was executing their jobs. Obviously Mizzou has a good defense, so they’re playing things and slowing things down, but I thought we had a great start and that helped a lot," Shenker said. "If we can just translate that throughout the game we’d be something special.”
Only time will tell how Auburn can respond and grow after its early offensive struggles. In a day and age where schools do not hesitate to fire a coach due to unsatisfactory performance, Harsin's job security may be dependent on that improvement.
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