Grading Auburn in its loss to Missouri

Oct. 19—Passing judgment on the Auburn Tigers’ loss Saturday at the Missouri Tigers:

Offense — C: Auburn is not a finely turned offensive machine. Far from it. Auburn’s offense mustered 10 points and, after scoring a touchdown, the next five drives featured four punts and 91 yards, opening the door for a Mizzou comeback.

Defense — C: Missouri’s Luther Burden is a beast. He normally catches passes for miles, leaves defensive backs hurting. To state the obvious: Yes, that’s a Rolling Stones reference. However, Auburn held Burden to 20 yards receiving until the final two minutes. Commendable effort. Missouri, in its first seven drives, had three points and 141 yards offense. That last drive should live in Auburn infamy. Missouri went 17 plays for 95 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. Burden had two catches for 29 yards, including a 16-yarder to convert a fourth-and-5.

Special teams — B: Doesn’t a special-teams touchdown merit an automatic A? Not when you miss a 30-yard field goal. Oscar Chapman’s 46-yard punt was fumbled by Luther Burden and bounced into the end zone where Antonio Kite recovered for a touchdown. It ballooned Auburn’s lead to 17-3 early in the third quarter. Late in the third, a missed 30-yard kick could have left Auburn ahead 20-6.

Coaching — D: What is it with nice-sized leads and Auburn? First, Oklahoma and now Missouri. How far has Auburn fallen? Missouri celebrated homecoming Saturday.

Overall — F: A very-winnable game against a ranked opponent, and Auburn again fails spectacularly. That’s four straight losses, the last three against ranked teams. Next week, there’s a currently unranked foe. Auburn goes to Kentucky.

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/grading-auburn-loss-missouri-230800311.html

Author : The Decatur Daily, Ala.

Publish date : 2024-10-19 23:08:00

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