AUBURN | It's not often that Auburn football fans end Saturday (or a game day) sad three weeks in a row. In fact, young Tiger fans might not remember the last time it happened. That year was 2012 … well, before Saturday night.
Yes, what started with a frustrating loss to Texas A&M was multiplied with a collapse never before seen on the Plains against Mississippi State. On Saturday, Auburn let an early 14-0 lead disappear before halftime, eventually losing to South Carolina, 21-17, on Saturday night. It was the second upset loss in Columbia in as many seasons.
What awaits Auburn for a chance to break that losing streak? Oh right. It's No. 2 Alabama. And Shedrick Jackson knows the opportunity awaiting him and his teammates.
"If we beat Bama, then it'll be a whole different story," the wide receiver said.
(If this article was a movie, this is where everything stops, and the star looks into the camera and says, "Wait a second…")
Beating Alabama? While the idea of that happening rests for a little bit, let's take a look at what happened against the Gamecocks. For the third straight game, Harsin and his staff got outcoached in the second half. On a crucial drive with 5:20 left, Tank Bigsby, who averaged 7.5 yards per rush, didn't carry the ball in four plays. And then, in a game-ending play that only happens when things are going the worst, one thread of the football touched Jaylin Simpson on the punt return. South Carolina recovered and ran out the rest of the clock.
"We're not finishing games," Bryan Harsin said. "We're not extending or putting ourselves in drives where we need points and being able to extend those drives in third-down situations. We've got to be a lot more clutch in those situations than we have been."
That's definitely the truth. Auburn has scored a combined 12 total points in the second half in the last four games. Against South Carolina, the Tigers managed 180 yards in the final 30 minutes, yet just three points. The defense wasn't much better. I mean, this quote from Shane Beamer says it all.
"We talk about this being big-boy SEC football, but we literally lined up in the second half and ran the same two plays over and over and over again," the South Carolina head coach said.
Ouch. That's just salt in the wound, and the fact that Auburn couldn't defend that is bad. It speaks to the weakness at each position and maybe a coaching staff not getting the job done.
"That really comes back to everything that you do leading into the game and some of those routine things that you do week in and week out because you know it's just a matter of time before something like that's going to show up," Harsin said. "There's got to be a total commitment to it."
"Something like that" refused to show up again, and the Tigers sit at 6-5 on the season. Harsin's honeymoon might soon be over.
