The excruciating losses continue to pile up for an Auburn squad still searching for its first conference win of the season after watching its 11-point fourth quarter lead tremble away in the final moments against No. 19 Missouri.
And at the helm of the continuous woes is the offense.
Time and time again Auburn found itself in a position to make some noise on Saturday, most notably late in the third quarter at the Missouri 10-yard line. The visiting Tigers held an 11-point lead and were driving downfield, accumulating 53 yards on 11 plays and flirting with the end zone and a chance to put the game away.
Instead, a dropped pass from the likes of Robert Lewis in the corner of the end zone led to a 14-yard sack and a missed 32-yard field goal, flipping the momentum in a big way heading into the final quarter of play.
"The first was an RPO and we had Robert (Lewis) — wish we would have had a bigger guy there — I think it hit his hands. I haven't seen the film, but I thought it was a really good throw. We've got to make those plays to win games,” Hugh Freeze said on the decision to throw the ball in that scenario. I can't remember that throw and then we tried to get back in third down range on third down, which we did. Should be a chip shot. Unfortunately, we didn't make it."
Freeze discussed during the off week that Auburn must be more consistent with its execution in order to turn things around in the second half of the season, especially on critical downs. But plays were not made - at least not enough - before Brady Cook’s return that ignited the black and gold Tigers fourth quarter surge.
“We have got to make those field goals just to keep our momentum,” Freeze said. “But we seem to not make the right call as coaches or the right play from time to time in critical moments still. And that's kind of been the story of the whole year and, obviously, it hurt to lose a turnover today, too."
After starting with two straight three-and-outs, Auburn found three of its first half drives reach Missouri territory, yet only came away with three points while doing so and failed to take advantage of a stagnant Missouri offense in Cook’s absence.
"Just got to be better when we get the ball down there," Payton Thorne said postgame. "We need points, and more importantly, we need touchdowns. We talked about that. I talked to the guys in the huddle about that on the field. Unfortunately we weren't able to get it done, and it stinks."
However, the orange and blue Tigers got things going coming out of the second half. After Thorne left the game on a huge collision with a Missouri defender, he returned two plays later and hit freshman wide receiver Cam Coleman for 47 yards and Auburn’s first touchdown — the only offensive touchdown.
"I thought we had a good plan for running the football and staying balanced,” Freeze said. “Probably should have taken a few more shots on early downs. Looking back, you wish you would have. There will be a hundred of those when you watch the film."
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Logan Fowler is a Senior from Sumiton, Alabama and is majoring in journalism. He joined the Plainsman in Spring 2024.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @loganffowler
