Second halves of futility

AUBURN | It was another second half of futility in Auburn’s win over Missouri Saturday.

In the third and fourth quarters combined, AU managed just seven yards rushing on 18 carries, was 1 of 8 on third down conversions and was held scoreless.

It was only in overtime that AU managed the game-winning field goal in the 17-14 win.

“That has been a struggle,” said tight end John Samuel Shenker. “That's been one of our things we've tried to harp on coming into the second half. Just making those adjustments well and executing well. Obviously you have to score in the second half; you have to win games and close them in the second half. That's a big emphasis for us this week.”

Tank Bigsby, Auburn’s best offensive player, had just eight yards on seven carries against Mizzou in the second half.

In its last seven games against Power 5 opponents going back to last season’s win at Ole Miss, Auburn has been out-scored 116-21 in the second half. AU is just 9 of 49 (18.4 percent) on third down conversions and averaging 2.9 rushing yards per carry.

Bigsby is averaging 37.1 rushing yards in the second half.

It’s been a shockingly bad run of offensive ineptitude after the half.

“The second half, in those areas, we’ve got to be better. I think that’s an obvious statement there,” said AU coach Bryan Harsin. “What are the reasons behind that? I think both sides adjust a little bit so it comes back to we’ve got to make some better adjustments. And I also think there’s opportunities there we’ve left on the field. We’ve got to have confidence in that and we’ve got to be able to come back to some things that worked for us too. We know that.

“It’s really not one thing in particular. As you go back and watch a game, right, we should have come back to this. We should of done that. We could have coached that up better. This was a bad scheme … We're still a work in progress there but that’s a focus we want to get better at.”

Auburn (3-1, 1-0 SEC) hosts LSU Saturday at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN.