Week 4 of the College Football season is upon us. Another glorious (for some) Saturday is in the books. Auburn entered SEC play with a 2-1 record when they welcomed fellow SEC foe Arkansas to the Plains on Saturday afternoon.
Stop me if I’ve said this before, but Auburn lost the turnover battle… again. I know it sounds cliché and it can be lazy analysis, but it’s (usually) true that the team that wins the turnover battle ends up winning the game.
That sentiment held true here, as Auburn dropped their SEC opener 24-14 to the Razorbacks. Hank Brown got the start at QB for the Tigers in his first SEC match in his young career. After a 3 interception first half for Hank, Auburn pulled the trigger and decided to trot out Payton Thorne for the second half, who ended up finishing the game at QB.
Auburn drops to 2-2 with 2 home losses as they host Oklahoma next Saturday, which marks the Sooner’s first SEC road game.
Before the Sooners roll onto the Plains, let’s take a look at the good, and the bad from the showdown on Saturday.
When you lose, we start with the bad…
1. Turnovers:
There are a number of candidates here for the bad, but the segment is called 3 good, 3 bad so I’m limited to 3 concerns here.
Let’s start with the turnovers. I already alluded to this beefy in the open but Auburn finished the game with a total of 5 turnovers. Unacceptable.
The Tigers turned the ball over 4 times in the first half alone, with Hank Brown throwing 3 interceptions and Damari Alston putting the ball on the turf for an Arkansas fumble recovery.
Hank’s first pick came on their first series on offence when it felt like they were getting into a rhythm. Auburn had the ball in Arkansas territory and was threatening to score before Hank threw a very ill-advised pass that was tipped and ultimately fell into the hands of an Arkansas defender.
As mentioned earlier, the Damari fumble was another major gut punch for the Tigers as it looked as though he might actually score on the play or at worst set the Tigers up with a First and Goal, however a Razorback defender forced him to fumble on what seemed like a desperation tackle which Arkansas recovered. Defense… head back out onto the field. What hurts is Damari looked very explosive and nimble on the run, but just couldn’t maintain a handle on the football. Another unacceptable turnover.
In the effort of not having this piece get overly lengthy we’ll wrap this portion up shortly here. After the Damari fumble and the Auburn defense really tightening up in the latter portion of the second half, Hank went on to throw 2 horrendous interceptions in the final 2 minutes to round out the first half, as Auburn trailed 7-0 at the intermission.
2. 3rd and long defense:
It feels like a crime blaming this loss on the defense, which played well in spurts for most of the game. Not to harp on the turnovers again, but when you give the ball away 5 times it gives you an extremely small margin of error and would take a herculean performance by your defense in order to pull squeak out a victory.
However, the defense can’t go without blame here. I’m not a defensive coordinator, but it seems like rushing 3 on key downs hasn’t treated Auburn well in the past, and the same story played out in this game.
Auburn had Arkansas in a 3rd and 7 on their first series, before a late hit out of bounds extended the drive, allowing Arkansas to lead a 10 minute, 15 play drive that ultimately ended up with a touchdown. 7-0 Razorbacks.
Auburn surrendered numerous 3rd and long conversions Saturday afternoon, both by penalty and losing contain and allowing Arkansas QB Taylen Green to scramble for the first.
As alluded to, Auburn’s defense was decent on Saturday. They had really tightened up and were controlling there game, and then 3rd and 19 happened.
After an intentional grounding penalty pushed Arkansas back and forced them to attempt a 3rd and 19 from around midfield, Auburn decided to deploy their vaunted 3 man pass rush technique, and surrendered a 58 yard touchdown, victimizing Keionte Scott in coverage.
The defense played well for the most part, but they have to clean up their 3rd down tactics that allow opponents to sustain drives. Wildly frustrating.
3. Running game:
When you’re starting a redshirt freshman QB entering their first SEC battle, common wisdom would say to lean on the running game to move the football and keep the offence on time and in rhythm, while helping the young QB with short down and stance situations and get him settled in.
The Tigers were unable to do that on Saturday. They managed a measly 146 yards on 26 carries against Arkansas. Jarquez Hunter ran the ball for a few chunk plays, but after the Hank Brown interception the running game seemed to fizzle out immensely.
The offensive line lacked a consistent push, struggled to create holes, and did not play with a dominant mean streak against an Arkansas team that was made to look like the ’85 Bears against the run on Saturday.
Hunter led the pack with 12 carries, Alston added toted the rock 3 times, and Cobb got into the action with 1 carry for a paltry 5 yards.
When you think of Auburn you recall a dominant ground game that dominates opponents, especially at home. This was not exactly what you would call a potent Auburn rushing attack.
Now let’s look at the good…
In a game where you lose 24-14 at home, finding positives can be a struggle, but here it goes….
1. KeAndre Lambert-Smith:
The lone bright spot for Auburn through the air on Saturday was transfer KeAndre Lambert-Smith.
He finished the game with 5 catches, 156 yards and 2 touchdowns. Very nice day of the transfer. His biggest play came on a 4th down pass from Payton Thorne when he ended up catching a pass over the middle and running 67 yards for the score.
Malcolm Simmons (who has seemingly been the best of the “Freeze 4” so far) also managed 5 catches and also added a couple of touches on jet sweeps.
Lamert-Smith also hauled in a one-handed deep throw in the second half from Thorne, leading to Auburn’s first touchdown of the game (which was also caught by KLS).
KLS was far and away Auburn’s most reliable receiver on Saturday and has quietly had a very productive early campaign for the Tigers, transferring from Penn State in the heart Big 10 country.
2. Payton Thorne:
Thorne came into the game in a tough spot so some content is needed here. After being benched following a 4 interception outing at home against Cal, Auburn turned to redshirt freshman Hank Brown to be their saviour.
Well, that looked like a decent plan as Hank led Auburn to a route against New Mexico last week, but he struggled mightily in his first SEC outing this Saturday against Arkansas.
After throwing 3 interceptions in the first half, Auburn turned back to the veteran in Payton Thorne to hopefully provide a spark and lead a second half comeback.
Thorne wasn’t able to pull out the win, but he did throw 2 touchdowns in the second half. He had Auburn fans feeling “Thorney” after his 67 yard touchdown pass to KLS on 4th down which cut the Razorback’s lead to 17-14.
He did end up throwing an interception on a pass over the middle that tipped off Cam Coleman’s hands and fell straight into the hands of an Arkansas defender. Not to pile on, and this is supposed to be “the good”, but the 5 star recruit has to catch that.
Unfortunately the defense wasn’t able to hold and Thorne’s comeback theatrics fell short.
3. The Defensive Effort:
I admittedly struggled to find a 3rd good here, but I do think the defense deserves a shoutout. They were able to get their hands on 2 Arkansas passes, creating 2 turnovers and giving their offence good field position. Kayin Lee had a strong game, with a pick of his own and a couple nice pass breakups. Kaleb Faulk looked strong as a pass rusher, and Jalen Mcleod had a productive day rushing the passer as well.
The Tigers ended the game with 3 sacks and 2 turnovers, while loosing the time of possession battle 36:36 to 23:24. Arkansas ran a total of 83 plays. That’s a long day on the field for the defense.
Another frustrating loss. We were hoping see some improvement in year 2 under Coach Freeze. That hasn’t happened. Auburn looks worse than last year. They start the season 2-2 with both losses at home to Cal and Arkansas, 2 teams that Auburn bested on the road last year.
It’s never a good omen to have your starting Quarterback benched so early in the season, when Freeze decided to turn to a redshirt freshman to save Auburn’s season. Freeze decided to tie his future to Thorne, nabbing him out of the portal in the 2023 offseason and not toying with a portal QB this offseason after a mediocre 2023 campaign. Freeze trusted Thorne to lead the Tigers in his 6th year of college ball.
It’s safe to say this gamble has backfired. Thorne played poorly at home versus Cal, and Hank Brown struggled against Arkansas after a promising begin to his starting career last week.
Auburn welcomes Oklahoma to the Plains next week. Surprisingly, Oklahoma and Auburn have only squared off twice in their history, most recently in a 35-19 Oklahoma victory in the 2017 Sugar Bowl.
The starting Quarterback talk should get very hot this week, as it’s unclear who Auburn will trot out under centre for their showdown against the Sooners. Should be an interesting week. Many adjustments need to be made. Players need to get healthy. Coaches need to figure out a successful game plan to put players in the best position to succeed.
We’re 2-2. See you again next week in JHS against the Sooners. As always… War Eagle.
