Let’s start on a positive note.

Getting back to full-capacity football with the start of a decade of home-and-home games against quality, out-of-conference opponents was pretty great. Penn State’s fans turned out to be welcoming hosts during an epic day-long tailgate party; both sides already are looking forward to the return game at Auburn in 2022.

That said, when the actual game finally kicked off after months of buildup, the visiting Tigers turned in a frustrating effort that was larded with new head coach Bryan Harsin’s least-favorite trait: inconsistency.

What’s worse, the lack of consistency wasn’t limited to the players. Auburn’s problems, particularly on offense, were acerbated by a well-nigh, inexplicable game plan.

My biggest concern about the new staff has always been Offensive Coordinator Mike Bobo. His own alma mater’s fans regularly referred to him as “Boo-Boo” during a long stretch as Georgia’s play caller, not exactly a vote of confidence.

Saturday night in State College didn’t do much to dispel those concerns.

Despite having two stud running backs who both averaged more than four yards a carry, Bobo refused to commit to the running game in the second half. After getting the second-half kickoff, he promptly called one of the dumbest plays I’ve seen in years — a goofy pass attempt by wideout Kobe Hudson that resulted in a fumble and a cheap score for Penn State.

On the road in a tight game is no place to get cute and Bobo tripped all over his own cute bag on that one. In so doing, he put his quarterback, his offense and the entire team in a hole for the remainder of the game.

If Gus Malzahn had called a play like that, he’d have come home to find moving vans in his driveway.

It got worse. When things got tough, Bobo stubbornly refused to play to his team’s strengths. Penn State’s defense notched exactly three tackles for loss the entire game and was obviously susceptible to a power run attack, but like so many former quarterbacks who became coaches, Bobo didn’t have the patience to stick with what worked.

He yearned for big plays through the air.

As a result, not only was Auburn not able to catch up on offense, they also kept putting the defense back on the field to face a team that was having no such issues with its own passing game.

Amazing, too, that the SEC officiating crew was unable to understand pass interference even when Penn State’s coverage closely resembled a mugging.

After weeks of being told that people all wearing the same shirt would affect Auburn’s play, I confess I didn’t expect those shirts to be black and white striped.

But for all the legitimate gripes about the offense, the defense’s absolute inability to get any pass rush is far more concerning going forward. The mild warning bells over high completion rates against the two opening cupcakes turned into full four-alarm fire sirens as soon as PSU’s Sean Clifford dropped back to pass.

Clifford had a reputation going in as a guy who got pressured and made a lot of mistakes, but Auburn made him look like Tom Brady playing behind an all-pro line with a couple of extra blockers for good measure. He was rarely pressured and Auburn didn’t notch a single sack in Penn State’s 33 passing attempts.

No secondary can hold out for that long, play after play after play, and unless Derek Mason can find a way to get some kind of pressure going forward, SEC quarterbacks can look forward to lighting up the scoreboard in a big way when playing Auburn.

Look, this game wasn’t a disaster. Auburn didn’t go up there and make a fool of itself. The offense was well balanced — too well balanced in my opinion, but there are those who take such stats as a positive sign — and the defense continues to be solid against the run, including stuffing Penn State on two 4th-and-short attempts.

Of course, you can afford to be not so great on the ground when you can pass for more than 300 yards. Being “balanced” means a lot less when you’re consistently successful in the passing game.

I’m afraid we’ll see a lot more of that in the near future.

There’s a lot to work on coming out of this. I suppose if Auburn was going to present itself as not ready for prime time, I’d rather have that happen against the Big Ten in September as opposed to in the eight-game SEC gauntlet that gets going after this Saturday’s final cupcake game.

But you can’t reclaim a missed opportunity.

Auburn missed a big one in Happy Valley.