Auburn football still figuring itself out 10 games into season. What is this team?
This is usually the type of story in which one talks about the silver linings of another close Auburn Tigers loss.
The type of story that discusses how the Tigers defense continues to put out a championship-level product. Or dissects how the offense is just one step away from finally cracking the code — and scoring consistently against a defense not named Mississippi State.
After ten games, Auburn is 7-3 (4-3 SEC). They lost 21-14 to an SEC East champion Georgia team Saturday at home. The defense, per usual, did its thing: It held Georgia’s somewhat-vanilla offense in check for most of the afternoon, forced some key three-and-outs when needed and held the Bulldogs to 251 total yards. The offense, per usual, struggled to move the ball for three quarters.
Part of that can be attributed to Georgia’s defense. It’s phenomenal. The Bulldogs have playmakers, both young and old (true freshman Travon Walker sacked Bo Nix on Auburn’s final fourth down), all over that unit.
But the bigger story: After 10 games, what is this Auburn team? And more importantly, where has the fourth-quarter offense that the Tigers showed been all season?
“You look at the first half, we drove down and we missed a field goal. The offense was backed up, (Georgia) really had the field position. We did get in their territory one time, but we fumbled, and I think that led to a touchdown,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. “I think our defense played well all night.
“Then in the fourth quarter, we got some momentum. We ended up scoring twice, got the ball down to the 23-yard line and got a play overturned. We got the ball back one more time but couldn’t do anything with it.”
Let’s start with those first three quarters.
Auburn didn’t score until the fourth quarter. The Tigers’ drives prior to that were a missed field goal (on the opening drive), seven punts, a fumble and a turnover on downs.
Auburn scored two touchdowns in a matter of minutes and, had the Tigers converted a late fourth down inside Georgia territory, looked poised to score another. It all results in one burning question: Where has that offense been?
“They hit some plays,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “They went tempo. I thought Bo (Nix) got a little more confident. We had a couple of busts and when you combine those things, guys get hot. It wasn’t like they didn’t move it earlier, because they moved it earlier, we just had some really big stops. We didn’t have really big stops on the later drives. ... They did a good job of personelling, Gus did a good job of searching ‘til he found something.”
Malzahn said the Tigers offense was a “work in progress” following Auburn’s home opener in early September. He reiterated that point Saturday night, with two games remaining on the Tigers’ regular season slate.
Auburn’s defense is anything but a work in progress.
The Tigers have not allowed an SEC opponent to gain 100 yards in the first quarter this season (Georgia had 75 yards Saturday). Marlon Davidson now has 6.5 sacks for the season and 16 for his career. The Tigers only had one sack on the day, but that’s par for the course against Georgia’s offensive line and a quarterback in Jake Fromm who knows when to get the ball out.
For three quarters, the Tigers looked like a team barely hanging on. They trailed the Bulldogs 21-0 entering the fourth quarter and some fans had already left Jordan-Hare Stadium by Georgia’s fourth-quarter light show.
Then, it was like a light switched on, and Auburn suddenly became a top-five caliber team. They had the SEC East Champions on the ropes, the crowd was back into it and momentum was clearly in the home team’s favor.
“With two-minute drives, there’s always a sense of urgency from the offense,” said Auburn receiver Seth Williams. “You know you have to put points up when it’s a two-minute drive. You know you have to execute. Everybody has to execute.”
In the two-minute offense, Auburn did execute. Better than it had all night.
Nix completed finished 30-of-50 for 245 yards and touchdown, and added 42 rushing yards. His fourth-quarter rushing score was the first rushing touchdown Georgia had allowed all season.
The offense finally found itself with 10 minutes left in its 10th game. The defense held Georgia to two yards of offense on 12 plays in the fourth quarter.
That’s the conundrum with this Auburn team: Beneath the little mistakes is a team that came within one score of beating the fifth-ranked team in the nation, took No. 1 LSU down to the wire in Baton Rouge and likely would’ve beaten Florida in Gainesville had the offense showed any pulse that miserably hot afternoon.
But the Tigers just finished game 10. They’ve got three losses and are out of any SEC Championship and College Football Playoff picture. There’s no telling if this was the night Auburn found its rhythm on offense: The Tigers host Samford next week, then host Alabama the following Saturday.
“We always feel like we’re in the game, no matter what,” Auburn cornerback Javaris Davis said. “We always have the offense’s back, and they always got ours.”
