Auburn Football: Could Tigers fall in the polls after win over Southern Miss?
Auburn football hosted Southern Miss in a game that was set to be an easy win. However, the Tigers struggled offensively and looked rather unimpressive.
The Auburn Tigers entered the game with a 3-1 record, coming off an easy, 34-3, win over conference opponent, Arkansas. With Jarrett Stidham still in charge of the Auburn offense, Southern Mississippi never had a chance. However, Auburn struggled to put Southern Miss away early.
The Tigers got off to a slow start and were scoreless until just before the end of the first quarter. The Golden Eagles responded with a field goal, but a few possessions later, the Tigers scored again. With 6 minutes and 43 seconds left to go in the second quarter, the game was delayed for an extended period of time, and the score was fixed at 14-3.
After the game started back up, we saw more of the same from both teams. The Golden Eagles were limited to field goals while Auburn continued to score touchdowns. In the fourth quarter, Southern Miss scored a touchdown to bring the game within eight points. Auburn tacked on a field goal late, and the game ended 24-13.
Struggles in the run game…and offense in general
Last week against Arkansas, Auburn struggled to run the ball. On 36 carries as a team, the Tigers only totaled 91 yards for an average of 2.5 yards per carry. A similar trend was seen today against Southern Miss, rushing for barely 96 yards on 36 carries, for an average of 2.7 yards per carry. These numbers are extremely uncharacteristic of a Guz Malzahn team.
Additionally, Jarrett Stidham struggled in his completion percentage, completing 19 of his 33 passes. However, the offensive line also did not do a good job preventing pressure from getting to Stidham.
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Next week, Auburn will go on the road to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs. This game will be much more challenging than the previous two matchups for the Tigers. However, they will have an opportunity to redeem themselves from their loss against LSU. Auburn has a good record and a good defense. But if the coach Guz Malzahn can’t get the running game going, they’re going to struggle against tougher opponents later in the season.