WEEK 4: Auburn Offense Struggles Mightily Against A&M, Where to Go From Here

Auburn opened up conference play with a 27-10 loss against Texas A&M, and the game itself was much uglier than the final score indicates. The offense as a whole struggled to get anything going, and the defense held on for as long as they could. As I predicted, Auburn's athletes simply couldn't keep up with the blue-chip recruits that A&M has been stacking for the past few years. However, contrary to popular opinion, I am still optimistic about the remainder of this season. I want to offer some advice to the Auburn faithful.

Take a deep breath and relax. We knew this team was not going to finish the year undefeated. This was a very difficult game that we were not supposed to win. It might have been a bit uglier than we had hoped, but I still think this team is trending in a positive direction. In my opinion, we are a few playmakers on offense away from competing for championships again. Freeze already has commits from a few guys that could take this team to another level. We're going to be just fine. Don't overreact about this loss and start calling for Freeze's job.

Now, let's look at some positive takeaways from yesterday's game.

As bad as the offense played, Auburn was still very much in reach for the majority of this game. There was an opportunity to make it a one-score game with about ten minutes remaining, and had it not been for an untimely penalty, Auburn would have probably made it a seven point game with an Alex McPherson field goal. I say all this ultimately to give a shoutout to the Auburn defense. Not only did they score Auburn's only touchdown, they single-handedly kept Auburn in the game. A&M was repeatedly given good field position after Auburn's three-and-out's, but the defense didn't budge. Outside of a few big "chunk plays," the defense played lights out. I thought they did all they could do to keep us within reach. The secondary played relatively well considering the talent A&M has at receiver. The linebackers plugged up running lanes on multiple third and shorts. I would like to see our defensive line get some more pressure on the quarterback in the future, but I thought they did a good job stopping the run. This defense gives me hope for the remainder of the season. Next up, I want to give a shoutout to Brian Battie for giving the offense a spark. He got to see some extra reps after Alston went down with an injury, and I thought he did a fantastic job firing through gaps and making guys miss. He finished with fifty-nine yards rushing on only eight carries, and he had two receptions for twenty-three yards as well. This may not seem like much, but in a game where Auburn was desperate for offense, Battie stepped up and made some plays. He was our leading rusher and receiver, which is pretty telling. McPherson buried a 52 yard field goal, which was Auburn's only points generated from offense. Disappointing day overall.

Let's now address the elephant in the room. This quarterback situation is about as bad as it gets. We are in week four, and it seems as if we as fans have no idea who is going to trot out on the field to start the game against Georgia. Thorne was benched in the middle of the third quarter after a subpar first half, and Ashford's legs did not provide the spark that we had hoped for. Geriner got the nod for the final drive, and he completed only two of his seven attempts. Auburn finished with only 56 passing yards, which is simply embarrassing. I was hoping that the solid game that Thorne had against Samford would give him the confidence he needed to reach his full potential here at Auburn. He looked uneasy and indecisive on Saturday, and unless he has a good week at practice, I'm not sure he'll get another chance to prove himself. So, who do we go with from here? Do we stick with Ashford, who already has experience playing in the SEC? Or, do we take a chance on Holden Geriner, who many say has the best arm talent on the team? Honestly, I have absolutely no idea. That is why I don't make the big bucks. I trust that Freeze will go with the right guy. If it was any other week, I would suggest to give Geriner a shot and see if he has star potential. However, having his first start be against Georgia could be disastrous. I would hate to spoil his confidence by feeding him to the wolves. I think that Ashford will probably be the guy against Georgia, but I wouldn't be surprised to see any of our three guys get some snaps. I have also been disappointed in our receivers up to this point. Outside of Fairweather against California, I haven't really seen anyone make a play. We aren't getting any 50/50 balls. Our quarterbacks have struggled, but the receivers certainly aren't making them look any better. I would like to see some of our big-body guys like Shane Hooks make a play on some jump balls in the endzone. I gave the defense a shoutout earlier, but I did see something that bothered me on a few plays. I was disappointed to see some of the secondary guys slowing up at the end of plays. On one instance, I saw Zion Puckett pull up at the goal line when Max Johnson connected with his brother Jake Johnson for a touchdown (which is pretty awesome by the way). Zion had the opportunity to get in on the tackle and potentially force Johnson out of bounds. Instead, he put the breaks on. I understand that targeting calls have caused guys to be a bit more cautious in these types of situations, but I thought he at least could have made an effort to shove him out. This would have forced a goal line situation, and with the way the Auburn defense was coming up with stops on short-yardage situations, I think we could have potentially held them to three there. I also saw Jaylin Simpson hesitate a bit on the Evan Stewart touchdown catch. I may be reaching a bit with this point, but if our defense is going to be our saving grace, they are going to have to be lights out. I want to see guys flying around and swarming the ball. I want to see a relentless defense. I think this defense has been solid up to this point, but solid obviously isn't going to cut it when the offense is this poor. Lastly, I want to talk about the negative plays that kept putting us out of field goal range. First of all, let me point out that we did not take a SINGLE SNAP in the red zone the entire game. Part of the reason for that is that every time we started stringing together a good drive, it was stalled by a negative play. It seemed like every time we got inside the green "Field Goal Range" line, we either got called for holding, or we took a sack. In the offensive line's defense, I thought that a couple of the holding penalties were pretty egregious. They do need to be better though. We cannot continue wasting solid drives by beating ourselves with negative plays.

This team doesn't have any time to dwell on this loss. Auburn has Georgia, the reigning national champions and number one team in the country, on Saturday at home. That is the reality of playing in the SEC. When you get knocked down, you better find a way to get back on your feet quickly. Otherwise, you will get trampled and left behind. Freeze has to keep these guys together and fully invested in the coming weeks.

I said last week that if Auburn can win one of its first four SEC games, that this stretch should be looked at as a success. I still think this goal is attainable. After watching Ole Miss fall to Alabama on Saturday, I think that we have a good shot at beating them. If we can start early and jump out to a lead, this Ole Miss team will quit. I didn't see a lot of fight out of them once Alabama took the lead. This would be a HUGE win for Auburn, especially if they drop the next two.

I still like where we are at this point. I think that Freeze is doing good things. The outcome on Saturday may have been undesirable, but this program is heading in the right direction. Give it some time. In the meantime, take a deep breath, and let's hope that this staff puts a better product on the field against Georgia.