Looking to bounce back after taking their first loss of the 2025 football season last Saturday in Norman, Auburn faced their second top 10 road opponent in a row as they travelled to College Station to take on the Aggies.
Unfortunately, bounce back they did not, as an inspiring effort from Auburn’s defense was unfortunately spoiled by an offense that wasn’t efficient enough to steal a game on the road.
Auburn falls to 3-2 on the season. Time to highlight 3 good things and 3 bad things from the game, and as always, Auburn lost the game, so we’ll begin with the bad…
1. Offence:
At the end of the game, Auburn tallied 10 points on the scoreboard. This sounds generous. Not to pile on or single anyone or any player out specifically but what was supposed to be a strength of the team was nothing but on Saturday, displaying an output that is not conducive to winning on the road in the SEC.
The offense never got into a rhythm, whether it be through the air or on the ground, the Tigers weren’t able to establish any identity and struggled mightily moving the football.
The passing offense felt disjointed all game and although they only gave up half the number of sacks as they did a week ago versus Oklahoma, this Saturday still was less than a banner day for the offensive line. When the pass protection did hold up and a clean pocket was formed, the offense still struggled to gain yardage.
Whether it be the receivers not being able to create separation and work open, or Arnold holding the ball and being shy to pull the trigger, neither long passes or the short game worked for Auburn on Saturday. The Tigers ended up amassing just 125 yards through the air, not a number indicative of a well-coached nor organized offense.
Unfortunately Auburn much fare much better on the ground in this one. The Tigers entered the 2025 season with an inexperienced but unproven stats wise running back room, which seems like an oxymoron, but it has been proven true to begin the 2025 campaign.
The Tigers churned out a total of 52 yards on the ground on Sunday, as none of their backs were able to help establish a consistent ground attack. As a fan, it’s always easy to say “we have to run the ball more” but context matters, and when the offence finds themselves behind the sticks for most of the afternoon thanks to pre-snap penalties or negative plays on first down, running the ball on second or third and long becomes out of the question.
That being said, a steady ground attack can keep an offense on schedule and assist in wearing down a defense. Entering a hostile environment with a QB making just his second SEC road start, a consistent running game can be a catalyst to more manageable third down situations, taking the crowd out of the game and leaning on the big men up front.
Auburn was unable to establish a threatening ground attack at all in this one, and their offense struggled because of it.
2. Penalties:
We’ll keep this one shorter as this was in the “bad” category last week as well, but it is certainly troubling to see this team’s undisciplined nature rear its head again for a second week in a row.
10 penalties on the road does not spell winning football. Pre-snap offensive line penalties are maddening, as we spoke about the offensive struggles in the last segment. Not going to re-hash that, but the penalties put the offense in unfortunate down and distance situations time after time.
For a group that is very experienced on paper, with many SEC road starts under their belts, the offensive line has to be better at limiting penalties. Frustrating.
3. 3rd Down Offence:
There isn’t much to say about this one. I’m usually not a huge numbers guy but they speak for themselves here. Going 0-13 on third down is horrendous.
Nothing much else needs to be said. When you’re unable to keep drives alive and move the chains, the offense turns very stale, predictable, and disjointed, all traits that losing football teams inherit.
The offense couldn’t stay on the field, and was unable to provide their defense with the requisite rest needed to play a full 60 minutes. Neither the passing game, nor the running game helped to solve their third down woes, and the Tigers pitched a goose egg on the board when it came to converting their third downs. Horrendous stat.
Now for the good…
1. Defence:
While there wasn’t a whole lot of good to say about the offense in this one, the Auburn defense once again played well enough to win.
The Aggies managed 21 first downs, however only converted on 3 of their 14 third down attempts.
Even though Auburn’s third down defense has been a point of contention for the wrong reasons, they were great in this one.
Allowing only 16 points on the road in the SEC is a phenomenal performance, and holding Aggies quarterback and media darling Marcel Reed to a total of 200 yards through the air is a win for the defense.
Add in the fact that they were on the field for nearly 35 minutes on Saturday afternoon in the Texas heat, the defense was stout, sticky, and relentless.
They even tried their best to help the Auburn offense out as much as they could, as they came oh so close to scoring points on their own accord as Xavier Atkins returned an interception for almost 75 yards, finally getting tackled inside the Aggies 5-yard line and setting the offense up with a first and goal opportunity. Good to see.
2. Pass Rush:
Finishing with 4 total sacks, the Auburn pass rush put on a show in this one, even though the stats may not paint that picture. The pass rush was relentless, and played a large part in Auburn’s defense getting off the field on third downs, making life a nightmare for quarterback Marcel Reed.
Consistently forcing Reed off his spot and not allowing him to gets through his progressions, the Auburn defense was able to put a considerable amount of pressure on the Aggies, controlling the line of scrimmage and dictating the game flow.
A number of players got in on the mix, with a sack each coming from Xavier Atkins, Chris Murray, Keyron Crawford, and freshman Eric Winters. Good to see the pass rush come alive again on the road.
3. Takeaway:
We’ll go with the takeaway for the last good thing here, as it was good to see the Auburn defence get their hands on a football and do their part in trying to steal a win here.
When your offence is struggling, sometimes you have to lean on your defence to make a game changing play to help snatch victory from defeat. The Auburn defence did just that, as Xavier Atkins was able to intercept a Marcel Reed pass and return it 73 yards, finally getting tackled inside the Aggies 10 yard line.
The Auburn offence would score a TD on the ensuing possession. Game changing play it was, and could have led to a comeback win if the offence was able to show more pulse of their own.Â
Another tough, close SEC road loss. Hard fought game. Credit the Aggies. They were more disciplined on the ground, and were able to salvage just enough through the air to outlast Auburn in this one.
Auburn was unable to stymie a lively road crowd on Saturday, with their offence just never finding a rhythm or showing any sort of explosive nature. Frustrating.
The Tigers ultimately came up short in what turned out to be a defensive slugfest, unlike the game in Jordan-Hare against A&M a season ago that went into 4 overtimes.
Auburn heads into their bye week with a 3-2 record, with a home matchup against SEC rival Georgia looming after the break in the latest rendition Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.
The Bulldogs travel to the Plains for an SEC clash under the lights in Jordan-Hare. Put this one against Texas A&M behind us, get healthy and into the film room to prepare for a four quarter fist fight. Bring on the Bulldogs.
As always… War Eagle!!!
