Eric Singleton Jr. Emphasized Key Reason to Fix Auburn Offensive Woes

The veteran Auburn Tigers wide receiver understands that it's only going to get tougher as the season goes on

Auburn Tigers wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr. knows the competition is tougher from here | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

The Auburn Tigers suffered a second conference loss at the hands of Texas A&M on Saturday in a game where the offense looked to be stuck in neutral en route to a 16-10 loss.

For the second consecutive weekend, the Auburn offense looked out of sorts, overwhelmed, and outclassed. Despite the slim margin of defeat, the Tigers were outgained by Texas A&M 414 to 177. Additionally, the slumping offense continued to make backbreaking mistakes.

The Tigers’ offense has committed 18 penalties in the past two games, 10 against Oklahoma and 8 against Texas A&M. Simultaneously, Auburn is an embarrassingly bad 3-28 on third down, including a pitiful 0-13 effort against the Aggies. The Tigers have also allowed 15 sacks in the past two weeks.

After the game, wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr spoke to the media about the myriad of issues and how the Tigers will try to approach them during the upcoming bye week.

“It’s very difficult, very frustrating,” Singleton Jr said of the penalties. “It’s just something we’ve got to fix during this bye week to get prepped for Georgia.”

The Georgia Tech transfer kept his answer just as matter-of-fact when asked about Auburn’s struggles to stay ahead of the chains.

“We’re just playing behind the sticks one again for another week. That’s all,” Singleton Jr said.

Tight end Brandon Frazier also spoke to the media after the game and was asked how close he thought the Auburn offense is to putting a complete game together.

“I mean, I think we’re calling the right plays,” Frazier said. “And Jackson [Arnold], I think he’s done a great job operating. But o-line, tight end, we’ve got to get the running back to the second level, make him one-on-one with a safety, make him miss, or a receiver make a play. It’s just, we’ve got to consistently do that play after play, not a series here and then we wait two more series.”

However, for Frazier’s goal of getting running backs to the second level to be achieved, Auburn will need to begin actually giving the ball to its running backs. The tandem of Jeremiah Cobb and Damari Alston combined for just eight carries against Texas A&M, five fewer than against Oklahoma the week prior. 

To add to the frustration, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said on Thursday that he wanted to be more intentional about running the ball after the low number of carries against the Sooners, and then delivered even fewer against the Aggies. Freeze acknowledged he made a mistake postgame, but at this point, acknowledgement of persistent mistakes is hard to forgive, especially when said mistakes are easily remedied.

Thankfully for the Tigers, the upcoming bye gives the coaching staff a chance to re-evaluate the current offense and potentially make changes before the Georgia Bulldogs come to Jordan-Hare Stadium Oct. 11.

“I think it [the bye] comes at a really good time, you know, for everyone to kind of sit back and relax and watch film, work on what we need to, and get better,” Frazier said.

Auburn will need to get better in a hurry because double-digit penalties, over 5 sacks, and under 200 yards of offense against the Bulldogs would be a surefire way to risk being booed off your own field against a hated rival.