Auburn football’s offense stalls out in SEC loss to Vanderbilt

AUBURN − Auburn football’s offense once again stalled out in a key SEC game.

The Tigers offense couldn’t get anything together, outside their only scoring drive while the Commodores put together two second-half scoring drives to clinch the 17-7 win in Jordan Hare Stadium on Saturday. The Tigers’ defense did their best to contain the Commodores’ option-based offense, but ultimately key mistakes on special teams hurt them there, too.

The Tigers (3-6, 1-5 SEC) fell behind early as the Commodores’ (6-3, 3-2) Diego Pavia found AJ Newberry for a 28-yard strike, and it looked like he might be finding the same magic as last year. Things settled down, and Payton Thorne found Rivaldo Fairweather for a 30-yard touchdown to tie the game.

Auburn football gets off to slow start

The Tigers’ offense had some strong plays to start the first quarter but only managed 70 yards of offense over their first three drives, over the course of 13 plays. They were held scoreless in the first quarter, a disturbing trend in SEC play. The only SEC game where they managed first-quarter points was against Georgia, where they got a field goal.

Jeremiah Cobb got a 27-yard gain to open the fourth drive, but then Auburn managed just seven yards as it turned it over on downs.

Auburn’s run defense had strong showing

The Tigers’ run defense wasn’t messing around in the first half, and it was a major reason Pavia and the Commodore offense struggled to get going. The Commodores ran it 12 times but only managed 29 yards, a pedestrian 2.41 yards a carry.

Auburn had three tackles for a loss and showed strong discipline on defense as the Commodores attempted to use the option game to get offense going.

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Tigers offense struggles to finish drives off

The Tigers started the game with a 15-yard run by Jarquez Hunter but went three and out on the new set of downs from there. Later in the first quarter, there was the run by Cobb and the ensuing turnover on downs. There was also a 49-yard and 46-yard drive that came up empty, although the 46-yard drive came up scoreless due to a missed field goal.

It wasn’t as if the turnover bug returned for the Tigers — they simply got behind the sticks and struggled to make up ground.

Auburn football next game

The Tigers have their second idle week on Nov. 9 and return to play hosting Louisiana-Monroe on Nov. 16 (11:45 a.m., SEC Network).