{"id":17532,"date":"2023-09-23T19:38:34","date_gmt":"2023-09-24T00:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=17532"},"modified":"2023-09-23T19:38:34","modified_gmt":"2023-09-24T00:38:34","slug":"first-thoughts-auburn-struggles-at-texas-am-falls-27-10-in-sec-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/first-thoughts-auburn-struggles-at-texas-am-falls-27-10-in-sec-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"First thoughts: Auburn struggles at Texas A&M, falls 27-10 in SEC opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUBURN \u2014 Hugh Freeze<\/a><\/strong> and Auburn football<\/strong><\/a> fell in their SEC opener at Texas A&M on Saturday by the score of 27-10. The Tigers dropped to 3-1 on the season, while the Aggies improved to 3-1.<\/p>\n

It was rough outing. Auburn finished with just three offensive points and 156 total yards, going three-and-out on five different occasions during the game. Payton Thorne<\/a><\/strong> finished with 44 yards on 6-12 passing, suffering six sacks on the day. Auburn gave up seven sacks in all. Backup running back Brian Battie<\/a><\/strong> stood out with 82 total yards.<\/p>\n

Auburn\u2019s defense tried to hang tough, but allowed 21 points and over 300 yards in the second half. The majority of the Aggies\u2019 offensive production came after starter Conner Weigman<\/a><\/strong> left the game and backup Max Johnson<\/a><\/strong> entered to start the second half.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s some real-time thoughts as the game transpired, as more postgame coverage is on the way at Auburn Live.<\/p>\n

First quarter thoughts<\/h2>\n

\u2014 Texas A&M racked up 99 total yards in their first two drives, but 62 of those came off two plays. Auburn\u2019s defense, particularly the defensive line, held their own early in this one, minus two busted plays. DJ James<\/a><\/strong> missed a tackle on the perimeter and Wesley Steiner<\/a><\/strong> had a misfit that allowed a big rushing play.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Auburn\u2019s offense was a mess in the opening 15 minutes. The first possession netted -1 yards. The second possession looked more encouraging. The Tigers\u2019 offensive line created some nice push, as Jarquez Hunter<\/a><\/strong> tallied three carries for 30 yards, and Damari Alston<\/a><\/strong> had two carries for 12 yards before his nearly costly fumble. Alston injured his right arm on the play and didn\u2019t return.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Thorne was sacked once and complete no passes in the opening frame. Auburn might have attempted a long field goal on their second possession, but the sack took them out of field-goal range. Then on the punt, the snap was launched over Oscar Chapman\u2019s head. Chapman ran the ball down and got the punt away, but it was nearly a disaster.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Freeze said on ESPN after the first 15 minutes that Auburn had something in the run game, but would have to figure out a way to be more balanced.<\/p>\n

Second quarter thoughts<\/h2>\n

\u2014 Auburn only went 19 yards on their opening drive of the second quarter, but chewed up 4+ minutes in the process. Between the break between first and second quarters, plus the additional time on the sideline, the Tigers\u2019 defense received a much-needed rest. It resulted on Auburn\u2019s defense coming back on the field for their first second-quarter possession and forcing a three-and-out, and their fourth straight third-down stop after allowing two straight conversions to start the game.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Freeze is really getting onto Thorne on the sidelines, but that\u2019s to be expected. Freeze\u2019s expectations are really high and Thorne isn\u2019t off to a good start in this one. He missed a wide open Jay Fair<\/a><\/strong> on a wheel route that would have likely been a touchdown. <\/p>\n

\u2014 Brian Battie<\/a><\/strong> showed flashes of what makes him so dangerous in the open field, with 31 total yards in about a quarter and a half. Unfortunately, Auburn\u2019s fourth drive of the game stalled out after a bogus holding call by the refs. Auburn would have faced a 3rd-and-4 after a Thorne scamper, but a phantom holding call pushed the Tigers back to 2nd-and-16 and killed the drive. Tough break.<\/p>\n

\u2014 I like the pre-snap motion that Philip Montgomery<\/a><\/strong> and Freeze dialed up more often as the game went on. It didn\u2019t allow Texas A&M to dial in and run blitz like they were earlier in the game. The motion kept the defenders more at bay and uncertain, and seemed to open up a few more running lanes without defenders blitzing and stopping the play before it started.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Twice in the first half, Thorne has taken sacks that have pushed Auburn out of FG range. The Tigers punted the first time, but figured they\u2019d give it a shot with Alex McPherson<\/a><\/strong> the second time. Good thing for Auburn, McPherson is a beast and made the 53-yarder.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Auburn allowed four sacks in the first half.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Auburn\u2019s running backs accounted for 105 of 112 total yards.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Through six quarters against Power Five competition, Thorne was 14-24 (58.3%) for 140 yards (5.83), 2 TD and 1 INT, while being sacked seven times. Thorne has to keep his eyes downfield and either step into some throws, or Auburn has to give him more options on check downs. Thorne is feeling the pressure and trying to escape rather than making a throw.<\/p>\n

\u2014 At least Auburn held the ball for over 12 minutes in the second frame, giving the Tigers\u2019 defense some rest, especially when you factor in the quarter break and then the halftime rest.<\/p>\n

Third quarter thoughts<\/h2>\n

\u2014 Like the beginning of the game, Auburn\u2019s opening drive of the second half is an unmitigated disaster. The plays tallied -1, -3, a false start and then an incompletion forcing the punt.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Robby Ashford<\/a><\/strong> came into the game in place of Thorne, as Auburn\u2019s offense was struggling mightily. The Tigers followed up their first second-half drive with another poor drive, featuring a gain of one yard, incompletion, false start and gain of four yards on the next drive. Coming out of halftime, that\u2019s awfully hard to explain if you are Freeze or Montgomery.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Texas A&M went to backup quarterback Max Johnson<\/a><\/strong> after an injury to Weigman and all Johnson did was complete his first five passes of the second half, leading the Aggies to two straight touchdowns.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Midway through the third quarter, every starting Auburn offensive linemen has a penalty except for Kam Stutts<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u2014 The third quarter was as brutal as it can be for Auburn. Two total yards, no first downs, dominated 14-0, and on top of the offensive struggles, the defense started getting shredded through the air.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Fourth quarter thoughts<\/h2>\n

\u2014 Fair, Auburn\u2019s best wideout, has zero touches as the fourth quarter begins. Freshman Jeremiah Cobb<\/a><\/strong> has one. That was odd.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Freshman Kayin Lee<\/a><\/strong> continues to shine, forcing a fumble early in the fourth quarter, where Eugene Asante<\/a><\/strong> picked up the fumble and returned it for a touchdown. That\u2019s an awesome moment for Asante, who is truly one of the good guys in college football. As Will Herring said on Auburn radio, \u201cgood things happen to good people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Following the two touchdown drives to start the second half, Auburn\u2019s defense forced two punts and a fumble in the next three drives. Toss in Asante\u2019s return, and the defense really turned this game around all on their own, helping the Tigers stay within striking distance.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Battie again flashed with some nice gains in the fourth quarter. Cobb didn\u2019t get his touches today, but Battie took advantage. With seven minutes remaining, Battie had accounted for 74 of Auburn\u2019s 163 total yards on the day.<\/p>\n

\u2014 With Ashford, it often looks like backyard football, but the Tigers were driving late in the fourth quarter. Sitting at 1st-and-10 at the A&M 28-yard line, two negative plays and a penalty knocked Auburn back out of field goal range and forced a punt. Texas A&M took over and on their second play following Auburn\u2019s stalled drive, roped off a 79-yard run to help ice the game.<\/p>\n

The post First thoughts: Auburn struggles at Texas A&M, falls 27-10 in SEC opener<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AUBURN \u2014 Hugh Freeze and Auburn football fell in their SEC opener at Texas A&M…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17532\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}