Auburn Tigers

5 Things Auburn Football Did Wrong Against Texas A&M

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 7:41 p.m. ET

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Sep 17, 2016; Auburn, AL, USA; Texas A&M quarterback Trevor Knight (8) runs for a first down during the second quarter against the Auburn Tigers at Jordan Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports

Auburn football did not play their cleanest game on Saturday night, but there are five things that stood out which kept Auburn from beating Texas A&M.

After playing a nearly perfect game against Arkansas State last weekend, Auburn football fell back into their old routine against Texas A&M Saturday night in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Gus Malzahn went back to the basics against Arkansas State on offense and put up over 700 yards. It looked like that momentum was going to roll over into the Texas A&M game, but he all of a sudden reverted back to his play-calling from the Clemson game.

The defense, which had been so good in the first two games, suddenly forgot how to tackle.

It’s very frustrating as an Auburn fan to see these inconsistencies on a team that should be much better than this.

Texas A&M is a good football team, but we have just as many good players on our team.

To me it comes down to coaching. I hate to be so hard on Gus Malzahn because I think he’s a great guy, but he’s being kind of stubborn.

He’s trying to overthink the offense instead of keeping it simple. Let Sean White run the plays he’s comfortable running.

Too many times against Texas A&M he took White out of rhythm with a long developing play. If you give him quick reads he’s really not a bad quarterback.

There are several things that go wrong when you lose, and we’ll take a look at five things Auburn football did wrong in their loss to Texas A&M.

Sep 17, 2016; Auburn, AL, USA; Auburn Tigers receiver Ryan Davis (83) is tackled by Texas A&M Aggies defensive back Justin Evans (14) during the first quarter at Jordan Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports

Bad Offensive Play-Calling

Gus Malzahn looked like a genius again after putting up 51 points and 704 yards against Arkansas State. That sentiment wore off quickly as Malzahn went back to the play-calling that got him in trouble against Clemson.

Things started out great. After a three-and-out on the first drive, Sean White drove the ball down the field on their second drive, which ended with a touchdown.

Kamryn Pettway had a lot to do with Auburn’s early success on offense, thrashing through the Texas A&M defense. Sean White was very efficient early throwing the ball between five and eight yards.

Then, for some unknown reason, Gus Malzahn switched things up.

Towards the end of the first half and into the fourth quarter, Malzahn started drawing up plays that moved the ball east and west instead of north and south.

We saw a lot of bubble screens and toss plays, which Texas A&M saw coming from a mile away. I really think Auburn had 20 negative yards on those types of plays.

Yes, Texas A&M has a good pass rush and that had a lot to do with all the negative plays.

But early in the game the pass rush was negated because Auburn ran in between the tackles with Pettway and threw some quick, short passes.

Once Sean White got in third-and-long situations and was forced to throw the ball downfield, we had no chance.

All the blame is not on Malzahn, Sean White really struggled after his first 15 passes. He was very efficient early on, but then started missing some open receivers. I’m not sure if the pass rush got to him or what, but he certainly wasn’t the same quarterback in the second and third quarters.

Still, you have to point the blame at the coach from going away from what was working.

Sep 17, 2016; Auburn, AL, USA; Auburn Tigers running back Kerryon Johnson (21) runs the ball as Texas A&M Aggies linebacker Shaan Washington (33) tackles during the second quarter at Jordan Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports

Poor Offensive Line Play

You knew coming into this game that the Auburn offensive line was going to have to play its best game all season.

Texas A&M has one of the best defensive lines in the country, and they dominated Auburn’s offensive line Saturday night.

From the very first play of the game Myles Garrett let his presence be known with a sack.

That was the theme throughout the night as Texas A&M’s defensive lineman constantly got in the backfield and created negative plays.

Just like against Clemson, the play-calling after the first quarter in this game didn’t do the offensive line any favors.

Auburn was running the football well between the tackles early in the game. Again, I’m not sure why Gus Malzahn went away from that.

The real struggled came in pass protection. Sean White was constantly under pressure.

Eerily similar to the Clemson game, the Auburn offensive line gave up 4 sacks and 13 tackles for a loss in the Texas A&M game.

No matter how bad the play-calling is, our offensive line has got to do a better job of winning at the point-of-attack.

We are getting blown off the line-of-scrimmage, and not giving the offense time to develop – even though Gus should realize this and not call long developing plays.

The saying is cliché, but games are won in the trenches. That’s been the story in Auburn’s three games as the offensive line has been destroyed in the two losses.

Sep 17, 2016; Auburn, AL, USA; Texas A&M Aggies receiver Josh Reynolds (11) catches a pass over Auburn Tigers defensive back Joshua Holsey (15) during the second quarter at Jordan Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports

Not Putting Carlton Davis on Top WR

One of the things I was looking forward to the most against Texas A&M was seeing Carlton Davis matched up against their best wide receiver.

Instead, I had to watch him shutdown their fourth best wide receiver most of the night, while Christian Kirk and Josh Reynolds ran wild through the rest of the secondary.

I do not understand why you don’t put your best cornerback on their best wide receiver.

Davis couldn’t cover both of them, but at least he could have limited one of them.

They did the same thing in the Clemson game. But at least in that game they made the adjustment at halftime and put Davis on Mike Williams.

Against Texas A&M though, Davis continued to get matched up with Speedy Noel.

In the meantime, Josh Reynolds caught 7 passes for 98 yards, and Christian Kirk had 5 catches.

When you have a cover corner as good as Davis, you have to utilize him. I don’t feel like the Auburn coaching staff has done that in their two biggest games this year.

Sep 17, 2016; Auburn, AL, USA; Texas A&M Aggies quarterback Trevor Knight (8) carries the football between Auburn Tigers defenders Johnathan Ford (23) and Stephen Roberts (14) during the first quarter at Jordan Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports

Poor Tackling

The defense is by far the best part of Auburn football in 2016, but they struggled a lot against Texas A&M on Saturday night.

From the very beginning the tackling reminded me of defenses in year’s past. We’d be in good position to make the tackle, but for whatever reason we couldn’t bring them down.

That’s very uncharacteristic from how the defense played in the first two games of the year.

A lot of that was in the backfield were Texas A&M quarterback Trevor Knight was able to avoid several sacks and extent the play. It must have happened 10 times last night where we had Trevor Knight sacked only for him to break free and run for a first down.

In the end Knight ran the ball 12 times for 59 yards (42 net), with a long of 16. I said before the game our linebackers would have to contain Knight when he took off, but that didn’t happen.

The secondary really struggled to bring down Texas A&M’s big receivers, allowing them to get several yards after contact.

In the end, the defense gave up 478 total yards and 29 points. They gave up 231 yards on the ground in 37 attempts for 6.2 yards per carry, and 247 through the air.

We had just 1 sack and 4 tackles for a loss.

Hopefully this game will become an outlier rather than the norm for this defense, but the tackling looked too much like the past couple of years.

Sep 17, 2016; Auburn, AL, USA; Auburn Tigers wide receiver Ryan Davis (83) loses control of the ball as Texas A&M Aggies defensive lineman Reggie Chevis (13) defends during the second quarter at Jordan Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports

Lack of Explosive Plays

You might not be able to tell from the final score, but Auburn was in this game the entire time.

It was 19-10 entering the fourth quarter because the defense kept holding Texas A&M’s offense to field goals, but the offense was never able to capitalize on that momentum.

It seemed like the offense just needed to make one big play to get themselves and the crowd back into the game.

As more-and-more offensive drives sputtered, you could feel the team getting that “here we go again” type feeling. I know I felt it watching at home.

Still, you kept looking for someone to step up and make a play on offense and it just never happened.

The wide receivers didn’t do Sean White any favors by dropping a couple of balls that were catchable. Sean White didn’t do himself any favors by missing wide open receivers.

The run game seemed to be abandoned, and Kerryon Johnson was nowhere to be found for most of the night. He finished the game with 15 carries for just 64 yards.

It was just really frustrating to watch knowing we were one play away from igniting the team and the home crowd, but no one could make it happen.

The defense eventually got tired at the end and allowed Texas A&M a late touchdown that put it away for good, but up until that point I had every bit of confidence that Auburn would come back, I’m just not sure the players – particularly on offense – felt the same way.

The team has to put this one behind them quickly with LSU coming to town. Gus Malzahn cannot afford to start this season 1-3, and LSU is looking more-and-more like a team that can be beat.