BATON ROUGE | No. 22 LSU came into Saturday night’s game with the SEC’s worst defense allowing 445.7 yards per game.

Auburn managed just 293 yards in a blowout 48-18 loss at Tiger Stadium. The struggles are even more amplified with AU having two weeks to prepare.

“I felt really good about the plan,” said AU coach Hugh Freeze. “I felt like we had a chance to maybe get some long drives and keep our defense on the sideline. We just never found any consistency, so it's disappointing, for sure.”

It was an inauspicious start with AU totaling -3 yards on its opening two possessions. Three running backs combined for 105 yards on 23 carries against a defense that had been giving up a league-worst 160.3 rushing yards per game.

"It's rough. It's definitely frustrating,” said offensive lineman Kam Stutts. “Just got to make sure we're coming out focused, learn from it and do better in the future."

Auburn’s passing game continued its struggles. Starting quarterback Payton Thorne was 12 of 23 for 102 yards. He also rushed for 27 yards on five carries.

Backup Robby Ashford was 3 of 4 for 52 yards and one touchdown, and gained 19 yards on five carries.

AU averaged just 5.7 yards per pass attempt and was 3 of 12 on third down.

“We knew it was going to be loud here. We tried to have the speakers at the facility back in Auburn kinda portray that. But nothing can really be that loud and really prepare you for what the atmosphere is here,” said tight end Brandon Frazier. “We kinda got off to a slow start. You can't really do that against good teams if you want to have a chance to win. So, we'll try and learn and move on.”

Auburn hosts No. 13 Ole Miss next Saturday at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN.