AUBURN | Auburn’s wide receivers still have some work to do and it showed Saturday night in Beaver Stadium.

Five wideouts combined to catch 13 passes for 112 yards with only two explosive plays of 16 or more yards, two drops and a fumble in the Tigers’ 28-20 loss at Penn State.

Factoring in the tight ends and running backs, Auburn’s passing game totaled just 185 yards and didn’t account for any touchdowns.

“We had 185 yards. Yeah, not good enough,” said Auburn coach Bryan Harsin. “That's really -- we needed to hit some explosive plays. We got opportunities to do that. We need to catch the ball, and we need to be in the right areas in the pass concepts.”

According to PFF, AU’s highest-rated receiver against the Nittany Lions was Hudson with a 67.8 offensive grade. But he also had a fumble on an attempted reverse pass on the first play of the third quarter that led to a PSU touchdown.

The rest of the offensive grades from PFF included a 62.9 for Malcolm Johnson Jr., a 57.5 for Ja’Varrius Johnson, a 54.0 for Demetris Robertson and a 52.4 for Shedrick Jackson.

Robertson and Jackson were credited with one drop apiece. Robertson had a 16-yard reception in the first quarter and Hudson a 36-yarder in the second quarter to account for AU’s only two explosive plays by a wideout. Hudson led AU with 48 yards after catch.

It wasn’t all on the receivers. The pass protection was inconsistent at times and quarterback Bo Nix completed just 56.7 percent of his passes and averaged 5.0 yards per attempt.

“Ultimately, we've got to come down with the ball. We've got to make some plays. You know, there are opportunities to do that,” said Harsin. “You know, we needed to hit some of those. We'll go back on Sunday and we'll work on it and we’ll we get better at it. There will be other opportunities in games moving forward as well, but explosive plays become a difference in any game, not just this game.

“But, if you can hit some of those explosives in the pass game -- and we did. We hit a few of them. You know, we want to create more of those and give ourselves some opportunities to do that. We've just got to go finish on those plays, and with that we'll continue to be a work in progress as we go through this season."

Auburn, which falls to 2-1 on the season, hosts Georgia State next Saturday. Kickoff at Jordan-Hare Stadium is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT on SEC Network.