Auburn football finished its five-game home stand in less than desirable fashion, which seemed to be the name of the game throughout the entire start to the 2024 season.
The Tigers saw a late pick six become the difference in Saturday’s 27-21 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners, dropping them to 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the SEC heading into the month of October.
Unlike the team’s other two defeats, this one felt like things were going right for Auburn. While it only scored 21 points, plays were being made and the team was moving the ball. Despite that, it gave up the lead late and horror struck once again for a team with high hopes.
Here is what we learned about the Tigers after the loss.
Quarterback [autotag]Payton Thorne[/autotag] was benched a short couple of weeks ago and thrown back into action last week against Arkansas after struggles shown by [autotag]Hank Brown[/autotag]. He responded this week in one of the biggest games of Auburn’s season by playing well, which is what fans desperately needed to see.
There were many good deep throws made with smart decisions, but what fans will remember were the other decisions made, the ones that had them holding their breath and just hoping the ball would not be interceptions.
For the most part, they were relieved of that, that was until the Sooners’ Kip Lewis intercepted a ball on a slant route and ran it back to give his squad a late lead. It answered the question of if Thorne had improved in crunch time, which was no.
On the receiving end, [autotag]KeAndre Lambert-Smith[/autotag] and [autotag]Malcolm Simmons[/autotag] have become two of the team’s most reliable targets in the early going, and when they get the ball, it always feel like a big play is in motion.
Running back [autotag]Jarquez Hunter[/autotag] is also still who every Tigers fan knows him as, a powerful weapon. Despite not breaking 100 yards, Hunter continues to make explosive plays that provide a spark to the offense.
The defense still has many kinks to work out. Containing the quarterback has consistently been a problem all year, and while things improved on Saturday, it gave up two of the more crucial plays of the game in the opening drive touchdown by Michael Hawkins Jr. and his two-point conversion that gave Oklahoma a 24-21 lead.
[autotag]Demarcus Riddick[/autotag] had an explosive game and proved what he can do with six tackles, including a tackle-for-loss and sack. Look for him to continue growing down the stretch.
For the first time this season, Auburn saw its special teams struggle, as [autotag]Towns McGough[/autotag] missed both of his field goal attempts on the day, including one right before the half that would have given his team a 17-7 lead and raised the momentum heading into the break. For a young kicker, he still has a lot to grow on, but those two turned out to be a major miss for the Tigers.
Auburn takes the road for the entire month of October, beginning with a trip to Athens to take on the Georgia Bulldogs. That game is set for 2:30 p.m. CST and will be broadcast live on ABC from Sanford Stadium.
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