BATON ROUGE | Arryn Siposs’ career-high 10 punts is all you need to know about Auburn’s offense at LSU.

With a chance to knock off the No. 2 team in the country and end 20 years of futility, Auburn managed just 287 total yards, was 5 of 18 on third downs and completed less than 42 percent of its pass attempts in a 23-20 loss at Tiger Stadium.

AU hasn’t won in Baton Rouge since 1999.

“You know, offensively, we just didn’t get it done,” said Gus Malzahn, who fell to 6-14 against LSU, Georgia and Alabama in his seventh season as AU’s head coach. “We had some untimely penalties. We had a bad snap at a real critical time. And the third downs, I think we had nine third-down-and-10-plusses. We put our quarterback in terrible spots as far as that goes.”

Auburn actually led 13-10 early in the third quarter following a 70-yard run by D.J. Williams on AU’s first offensive play of the second half. Anders Carlson followed with a 23-yard field goal.

But AU had just 70 yards the rest of the half. That’s seven drives, 28 plays and just 70 yards. AU had a streak of four consecutive 3-and-outs followed by a quick 4-and-out. AU was 1 of 8 on third downs in the second half.

And a defense that held LSU to less than half of the 52.5 points it was averaging coming into the game, started to tire at the end, giving up 271 yards in the second half.

“Just nothing was going for us on offense,” said junior wide receiver Eli Stove. “We were trying but it wasn’t going. It’s hard looking at the defense working hard, they’re doing their thing and the offense lays an egg. But we’re going to get it done. We’re going to get it right.”

D.J. Williams led Auburn with 130 yards on 13 carries, but if you take away his 41-yard run at the end of the first half and his 70-yarder to open the second, AU had just 19 yards on 31 carries, an average of 0.6 yards per carry. Even if you adjust those numbers by taking away the sack and bad snap, AU's running backs combined for 43 yards on 20 carries sans Williams' two long runs.

Quarterback Bo Nix completed just 15-of-35 passes for 157 yards with one touchdown and one interception. It’s the third time the true freshman has completed less than 50 percent of his passes in his eight starts this season, which includes an opening win over Oregon and the 24-13 at No. 10 Florida.

“Obviously not my best,” said Nix. “I made a few decent throws, made a few third-down conversions. I missed throws I usually make. That's what's frustrating.”

Auburn also had a season-high 15 penalties for 98 yards including five false starts as a loud atmosphere disrupted the offense much as it did three weeks ago at UF.

“There’s no doubt it was loud,” said right tackle Jack Driscoll. “It was loud in Florida, but at the same time, it’s on everyone. It’s unacceptable. It kills drives. It’s a momentum-killer. We got to fix things.”

Auburn returns to action against Ole Miss next Saturday. Kickoff at Jordan-Hare Stadium is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT on ESPN.