Auburn football: 3 takeaways from disappointing loss at Texas A&M

Saturday was sobering for Auburn football. After a 3-0 start, the Tigers’ momentum skidded to a halt during their road trip to College Station.

1. Offense was anemic

There’s no other way to put it, the Auburn offense was just flat-out bad on Saturday. When they were on the field, frankly, it looked like the kind of game where one team shells out a couple million for a free win in Week 1.

It all started at the quarterback position.

Neither Payton Thorne nor Robby Ashford were effective whatsoever. Thorne was consistently under pressure, but his pocket presence did nothing to improve things. Time and time again, he was prematurely tucking to evade pressure, bailing on plays and conceding downs.

Ashford was an ineffective runner, but the offensive line didn’t generate enough push for anyone on a consistent basis. Brian Battie and Jarquez Hunter created some nice yardage, but the Aggie defensive front was in Auburn’s backfield all day long.

Aside from the tailbacks, there were just no positives to take from this performance for Auburn. The Tigers played extremely poorly on Saturday, and they look like an offense that is going to struggle mightily on a weekly basis against SEC competition.

2. Defense is ahead of the offense

There was a sentiment during Fall camp on the plains that the Auburn offense was ahead of the defense. After Saturday, it’s fair to say that those assumptions were wrong.

While the offense has struggled against Power Five opponents, Ron Roberts’ defense has stepped up and kept the Tigers in games.

The biggest story of this unit’s season so far has been the emergence of linebacker Eugene Asante. He was the Tigers’ star against Cal, and again today did what he could to keep Auburn in the game. He had nine tackles in the game, and he recovered a fumble and took it to the house for Auburn’s only touchdown of the contest.

If Auburn is going to win games in the SEC, this unit is going to have to continue making big plays. Without this unit, the Tigers would Saturday could have been far uglier than it already was.

3. Still a long way to go on the plains

The optimism surrounding this team after three weeks may have been a bit premature. Auburn looked solid against UMass and Samford, and they got a road win against Cal in an unconventional spot, but Saturday’s performance put the proper context around this program’s current position.

Freeze was never going to turn this team around overnight. It’s worth remembering that Bryan Harsin, arguably the worst recruiter to ever coach the Tigers, left this program in a dreadful spot. Under his watch, morale reached an all-time low on the plains.

Harsin was also the only Auburn coach in a long time to just, flat-out, never win. Terry Bowden, Tommy Tuberville, Gene Chizik and Gus Malzahn all won significantly. They had their struggles, but all of them were capable of taking this program to great heights as well. That’s another example of just how dark the Harsin era was.

Freeze won at Ole Miss. He beat Alabama in back-to-back seasons and recruited some of the best players in the conference.

This is likely going to be a tough season, because the rebuild needed on the plains is so comprehensive. The Tigers will be back to their chaotic, wild card ways in a matter of time. It’s just going to be a while.