Losers from Auburn football's 17-14 win over Missouri

Here are four losers from the improbable win.

Don't blame the players.

After seeing the product Auburn put out on the field on Saturday, the last thing fans need to do is attack the players.

The issues that have arisen over the last year can partially be explained away by execution. It's the inability to coach the team through the lack of execution after almost two years with this staff that should be questioned.

Auburn defeated Missouri, but this feels like a loss. It should have been a loss.

So, therefore, here are four losers from the game.

Tank Bigsby

Eric Starling/Auburn Daily

Bigsby is a wasted talent. Go in depth with the analytics, the numbers, and the yards before contact if you choose to do so. Break it down however you please.

But it doesn't take an analyst, a media member, or the "people in the meetings" to tell you what is happening. The Auburn offense can't get the ball to one of the best backfield studs they have had in at least half a decade, maybe even further back than that.

Wasted potential.

Eric Kiesau

Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics

Auburn's offense is currently 99th nationally in yards per play at 4.8 (FBS schools only). The last time the Tigers' finished a season with a lower YPP was 2012 (4.7).

Here's a fun little number from Bennett Durando of the Montgomery Advertiser: Excluding Missouri’s four sacks, Auburn averaged only 1.92 yards per carry on 24 rushing attempts after the first quarter.

Tank Bigsby averaged 0.78 yards per carry on nine attempts after the first quarter.

The best part? The meat of the schedule is still in front of Auburn.

Everything looks so hard for the Tigers to do on offense. It's like they're allergic to being creative or trying new things. Against Missouri, the gameplan was similar to that of a small child playing Madden on anything but rookie difficulty. Running the ball goes nowhere, and when it is time to pass, scrambling immediately is the best option almost every single time.

It is like watching an animal struggle to breathe. Breathing is supposed to be natural, right? It doesn't come easy for everyone, but breathing happens on its own. You don't have to think to breathe. In this day and age of college football, scoring isn't instantaneous, but it's almost more uncommon now to see an offense bog down every single possession than to see it move the ball consistently.

Why do the Tigers struggle to breathe?

Because of their own limitations. The offensive line is bad, but can be schemed around. It all comes back to coaching. Eric Kiesau needs to find a way to fix the scheme and utilize the talent on roster better.

The Auburn fanbase

Does this need much explaining?

Auburn won a game they should have lost, and with emotions already running high before the matchup, this only threw more gas on the fire for a lot of different people.

A lot of folks have checked out.

Don't blame the players. In fact, show up for the players. Show up because you believe in Auburn, and you love it.

But I don't blame you if you are upset with the state of Auburn football right now.

Bryan Harsin

Eric Starling/Auburn Daily

Harsin is 4-7 against Power Five opponents through his 17 games at Auburn. That's unacceptable.

Auburn lost five straight games to end the 2021 season. That's unacceptable.

The most unacceptable thing, however is recruiting.

As of September, the recruiting could almost be described as pathetic. The Tigers are second to last in the SEC in team rankings and are scraping at the bottom of the barrel for talent to boost the class. They need bodies in the room. And they are really struggling to get them

I wrote this at AuburnWire in November of last year after the 0-5 skid, and I think it's interesting how the same questions and comments still apply almost 11 months later:

"Was it the talent that was keeping them (the staff) afloat during their 6-2 start? Were they keeping the players afloat, and now they aren’t scheming things well? Whatever the case may be, something has changed. It might be early, but Harsin has shown some tendencies that he is going to have to shake off if he wants to consistently win against opponents that have similar or better talent, but are vulnerable schematically to what he can throw at them. 

Auburn is 12th in the SEC in recruiting rankings right now. The transfer portal won't fill the gaps forever."

It's not hard to see what's happening at Auburn. "Just watch," Harsin said at SEC Media Days.

We're watching, and man, is it hard not to look away.

Had Auburn lost (and let's be clear, winning the game was not their own doing, they had lost that game before Missouri gave it away twice) yesterday, I'm not sure Harsin would still be here. But yet, here we are.

The only thing that's going to change recruiting is winning. Auburn is 3-1. Tunes will change if they somehow beat LSU this Saturday.

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