Auburn spent the week answering the same uncomfortable question from every angle: what’s going wrong, and why do the same issues keep showing up?
The Tigers’ staff and players didn’t try to dodge it. They pointed straight at the problems - sacks, missed tackles, explosive plays, the run game, and defensive breakdowns - and they were blunt about how much work still needs to be done.
The sack number is hard to ignore. Auburn has given up 13 sacks this season, and the most recent outing was especially rough, with seven allowed on Saturday night.
The explanation, according to the staff, was layered. Some of it came down to protection and scheme.
Some of it was individual losses up front. One sack was also tied to Byrum holding the ball while trying to work through a last progression.
The coaching staff said it has to do a better job putting players in better situations, whether that means slide protections, chips, nudges, keeping backs in, or leaving tight ends in to help.
The run game is another area that hasn’t come together consistently. Auburn’s backs haven’t been a steady part of the offensive attack, and offensive lineman Cole Best said the unit knows it has to clean things up.
He put it plainly: "It's been huge. It's always a huge emphasis.
We got a lot we need to clean up right there. Haven't gotten these backs open the way that we need to, and as an offensive line, that's on us, so, you know, we just keep going into our detail, into our craft and just keep straining to get better."
On defense, the biggest theme was the same one that keeps surfacing when explosive plays show up: missed tackles and missed assignments. DJ Durkin said those breakdowns are often the difference between a normal snap and a drive-swinging play.
"That was a huge part of the game. We say it all of the time, explosive plays are created in two ways.
It's by missed assignments and missed tackles, for the most part. You have some plays where somebody makes a great throw and catch on a contested ball.
That happens, but for the most part when there’s an explosive play, someone wasn’t where they were supposed to be or there was a tackle missed or several. Both of those things, we harp on those a lot, and they showed up big time in that game." - Auburn DC DJ Durkin
Head coach Alex Golesh said the explosive plays have not been limited to one bad stretch. He said the biggest issue has been urgency - getting lined up, getting signals, communicating, and getting into the right spots fast enough. In his view, too many of the explosives have been self-inflicted because Auburn wasn’t in the right place or didn’t adjust well enough.
Golesh was even more direct when he talked about the defensive miscues against Florida. He said Auburn never really settled into the game.
The team felt like it was on its heels early and never fully got its feet under it after halftime, either. He said the defense wasn’t sharp enough in communication, wasn’t in sync on motion and checks, and wasn’t focused enough on one play at a time.
He also raised the question of whether the Tigers are asking too much of their players with all the checks and moving parts.
Durkin echoed that point from his side of the ball. He said playing with emotion is fine, but the defense got too amped up and that led to mistakes from players who normally don’t make them.
He credited Florida for its personnel groups, shifts, motions, and formations, but said Auburn kept waiting for the defense to settle down and play cleaner. It never happened.
That left Auburn with a week full of self-scouting and straight talk. The issues are different on paper, but the common thread is obvious: too many breakdowns, too much inconsistency, and not enough clean football.
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Auburn Already Has A Byrum Brown Problem It Can't Ignore
Byrum Browns early run with Auburn has already turned into one of the seasons quiet pressure points. Through three weeks, the transfer quarterback has completed just under 65% of his passes for 780 yards, with five touchdowns and four interceptions, while much of the offense has depended on his decision-making to keep drives alive. Even with those numbers, CBS Sports left him off its top-50 quarterbacks list, a sign that national respect has not caught up with the role Auburn has asked him to play.
Browns decline as a runner has also changed the feel of the offense, since his rushing production and scoring on the ground are both well below what he delivered a year ago. For Auburn, the concern is bigger than one ranking or one rough stretch, because the offense has struggled overall and Brown remains central to how much it can recover. The Tigers need more than steady quarterback play now, and the gap between what they are asking Brown to do and what the offense has actually produced is getting harder to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
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Auburns offensive line came out of the Florida game with plenty to clean up after allowing seven sacks and never really getting the run game going. For first-year head coach Alex Golesh and offensive coordinator Joel Gordon, the larger concern is how quickly they can settle a front that is still being adjusted on the fly, with true freshman Wilson Zierer making his first start in the middle of the shuffle.
Zierers debut gave Auburn a glimpse of both the upside and the growing pains that come with asking a first-year player to handle a major role this early. The inconsistency was part of the story, but so was the support around him, as teammates pointed to his work ethic and attitude after the game. The question now is how much more responsibility the Tigers are willing to place on him while the line keeps searching for its best version. [Read more 🡒]
Auburns Homecoming Test Just Got More Dangerous Than Fans Expected
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Auburn coach Alex Golesh has already pointed to Curtiss talent while also noting Vanderbilts aggressive defensive style, which adds another layer to a matchup that looked dangerous from the start. The game will be carried on SEC Network and the Auburn Sports Network, and for Auburn, the timing makes it feel like more than just another conference game. [Read more 🡒]