After surrendering nine sacks against Oklahoma, Auburn hoped its offensive fortunes would change against No. 9 Texas A&M.
However, it was deja vu for Hugh Freeze and the Tigers' offense. The orange and blue finished with 177 yards of offense, the lowest total in Freeze’s tenure on The Plains.
“Our kids are playing too hard. Offensively, that was unacceptable,” Freeze said. “Our defense played their tails off and well enough to win the game.”
Third downs once again plagued the Tigers, with Jackson Arnold and company finishing 0-for-13. Auburn went 3-for-27 on third down in its last two road losses at Oklahoma and Texas A&M.
“I sound like a broken record. It’s unacceptable,” Freeze said of his team’s third down woes.
It was a quiet afternoon for Auburn’s signature offensive weapons. Eric Singleton led the receiver room with five catches for 56 yards, while Cam Coleman recorded four receptions for 18 yards.
Freeze and his staff could not establish the ground game, and it cost them. To put the performance into perspective, in Week 1 against Baylor, Jeremiah Cobb and Damari Alston combined for seven carries on the team’s game-winning drive. Against Texas A&M, the duo combined for only eight carries.
“We have too good of skill players,” Freeze said. “We certainly aren’t playing like it. So that falls on me and the coaching staff to figure out why.”
Kyle Field and a sold-out crowd of 108,449 made it tough for the Tigers’ offense to operate, especially in the fourth quarter. Auburn finished the quarter with just one yard of offense. The Aggies sacked Arnold three times in the fourth, sealing the win with a final takedown of the Tigers’ signal caller.
Auburn will have two weeks to prepare for No. 5 Georgia during its bye week, and the coaching staff will be looking for solutions to the offensive struggles.
“We have two weeks to prepare for Georgia, and we’re going to reevaluate everything on our offense,” Freeze said. “It’s not on Jackson or any other player. It’s on our staff, and that starts with me to fix it.”
The Tigers will be back in action at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Oct. 11 under the lights against Georgia. It should be a raucous environment on The Plains as Auburn looks for its first win against the Bulldogs since 2017. The program will retire legendary quarterback Cam Newton’s No. 2 jersey at halftime.
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Rory is a sophomore majoring in journalism sports production. He started with The Plainsman in the spring of 2025.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @RorymGarvin
