BATON ROUGE, LA (EETV) -- Auburn will be wishing they had this game back. Too many mistakes by Auburn led to the 23-20 defeat by LSU.
Auburn had 15 penalties for 98 yards, and that is not a recipe for success when facing the #2 team in the country in their own backyard.
As the decibel level increased inside the stadium, so did the false start penalties. Auburn put themselves in 3rd and 10+ nine times which resulted in a 5-of-18 conversion rate on third down.
“We put our quarterback in some terrible spots,” coach Gus Malzahn said.
Auburn center Kaleb Kim was responsible for one of those terrible spots. He snapped the ball over the head of Bo Nix on a drive that started with great field position late in the fourth quarter.
The bad snap would put Auburn in a 3rd and 24 situation where they would eventually punt the ball back to LSU.
“We had opportunities and we didn’t seize the moment,” Malzahn said. “Give LSU credit they’re a very good football team but we just didn’t get it done offensively.”
One opportunity that was wasted was after a long D.J. Williams run on the final drive of the second quarter, seconds before halftime. 13 seconds left at the LSU 32-yard line and Nix threw a jump-ball pass to Seth Williams which ended up being an interception.
That was three points off the board which could have changed the outcome of the game. The game was tied at the half 10-10.
In the second half, LSU running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire was unstoppable against the star-studded Auburn defensive line. He ended the game with 136 rushing yards on 26 carries.
The run defense was not mentioned as much as the pass defense coming into Saturday’s game because most of the media outlets penciled in Joe Burrow to do most of the damage to Auburn’s defense.
Auburn gave up a total of 508 yards: 321 passing and 187 rushing, but held LSU to its lowest point total of the season (23). The Auburn defense cut LSU’s season average of over 50 points a game in half.
Auburn will look to improve offensively as they host Ole Miss next Saturday. The season is still not lost after losing their second
game of the season, as Auburn can still play as a playoff spoiler when they host Georgia and Alabama in the coming weeks.
