Miserable offensive performance

AUBURN | Auburn didn’t run, didn’t block, didn’t throw and didn’t catch well at Texas A&M Saturday.

It was an all-around miserable performance on the offensive side of the ball as the Tigers fell 20-3 at Kyle Field. The three points are the least since a 49-0 loss to Alabama in 2012, the final game of the Gene Chizik era.

“Everything seemed just like a click off,” said tight end John Samuel Shenker. “We just — were really close early on and it was starting to click and it never really got on that pace and when you don’t do that it comes really hard especially against a team like A&M.”

The Tigers managed just 226 yards of total offense, the lowest output since 216 in a 27-6 loss at Georgia last season. Auburn averaged just 2.5 yards per rush and Tank Bigsby was held to 69 yards on 15 carries.

After completing 76.8 of his passes in the previous two games combined, Bo Nix completed just 20 of 41 passes (48.8 percent) of his passes against the Aggies for 153 yards and one interception. He was sacked four times.

Nix also had a key fumble that was returned 24 yards by Michael Clemons for the only touchdown of the game.

AU had one play of 15 or more yards, a 15-yard pass from Nix to Luke Deal. TAMU had six passes and four runs of 15 or more yards.

“I just don’t think we found that play, that momentum, that spark to really get us—on the offensive side in particular—to get us going,” said Auburn coach Bryan Harsin. “And we had our opportunities, and you know, there was plenty of self-inflicted wounds that we had in there: dropped passes, we lost the ball -- we fumbled it. Obviously, they scored on defense, which is a big part of it. So there were plenty of things that we can control that we didn't help ourselves with, and, you know, that hurt our offense, hurt our team.”

Auburn, which falls to 6-3 overall and 3-2 in the SEC, hosts Mississippi State next Saturday at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN.