On a humid and hot September afternoon down in the Plains, Auburn’s offense continues to raise more questions rather than answers. One week removed from a game against a lowly Arkansas squad, the Tigers were back at Jordan-Hare to face another subpar opponent.
After two slow drives to start the game, Stidham connected on a deep throw to freshman receiver Seth Williams for a 46 yard touchdown. Stidham ended the game 19 for 33 passing with 2 TDs. The big question going into this game was whether the offensive line would look better than they have the past few weeks. The answer to that question was a resounding no. Stidham was flushed out of the pocket what seemed like almost every play and whenever Auburn tried to run between the tackles, it was shut down almost instantly. There were also several delay of game and holding penalties that pushed the Tigers back. The offensive line has to get better in a hurry if Auburn wants to compete with the November slate coming up.
With under five minutes to go in the second quarter, it was announced that lightning had been detected in the surrounding area. Delay after delay, Auburn and Southern Miss had to wait in their locker rooms for 2 hours and 44 minutes before resuming play. Upon returning to the field in the third quarter, Auburn went on an 11 play, 63 yard drive capped off by a 2 yard touchdown pass to Chandler Cox. At this point, Auburn was up 21-6 in the fourth.
The Tigers ended up adding a late field goal and won the game 24-13 but again, Auburn didn’t exactly pass the eye test. Coming up next week is a road game against a Mississippi State team that just lost at home to Florida.
