Auburn’s Southeastern Conference opener against Arkansas was an opportunity to find an identity and maybe change the narrative around the team going into conference play.
Here are our takeaways from the game:
Turnovers kill the Tigers
Auburn still can’t stay out of its own way.
The Tigers entered the game last in the SEC in turnover margin, mainly due to its five turnovers against Cal. Saturday’s loss to Arkansas looked like a replay of the Cal game.
Auburn had an unthinkable four first half turnovers. Three were interceptions by Hank Brown and one was a fumble near the goal line by Damari Alston.
The turnover problem is nothing new for Auburn.
Saturday as the seventh time in the last eight games that Auburn had multiple turnovers, dating back to last season.
In the four-turnover first half, Auburn outgained Arkansas 173-164, but still trailed, going into halftime scoreless.
Even with a new quarterback, the turnovers continued.
The turnovers came in almost every way imaginable. A fumble, an interception off a receiver’s hands, interceptions on questionable throws, you name it.
It’s hard to pinpoint one specific issue to categorize Auburn’s turnover problems, but it continues to be costly.
It’s nearly impossible to beat good teams when turning the ball over as many times as Auburn did. And unfortunately for the Tigers, they still have to play many teams that are better than Arkansas.
There seems to be no answer at QB
When Brown replaced Payton Thorne following the Cal loss, his performance against New Mexico seemed to kill any quarterback controversy.
That notion didn’t last long.
After throwing three interceptions in the first half against Arkansas, Brown was benched and Thorne returned to start the second half.
The switch didn’t give much of a jolt to the offense, though. Thorne started the half 2-of-8 passing and showed the same inconsistency that was present when he was the full-time starter.
Thorne had his moments. A touchdown drive that was capped off with a touchdown pass to KeAndre Lambert-Smith felt like it could be the start of a shift in the game.
It wasn’t. And four plays into the next drive, Auburn had its fifth turnover of the game.
Thorne had the better day of the two overall, but still didn’t show much that will change people’s minds.
The defense was good, but couldn’t finish
Auburn was able to stay in the game despite its turnovers, mainly due to Arkansas’ similar difficulties holding onto the ball.
While the Razorbacks’ turnovers were less frequent, the offense overall struggled to find consistent success. Even in Auburn’s four-turnover first half, the Tigers still went into halftime with an edge in total yards.
Auburn constantly rattled Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green, even leading to him briefly getting benched during the third quarter. Defensive coordinator DJ Durkin constantly dialed up pressure and it often had an effect on Green.
The performance was still far from perfect. Each of Arkansas’ first two touchdowns were avoidable.
On the Razorbacks’ 15-play touchdown drive in the first half, it was sparked by an unnecessary roughness penalty on an early third down that would’ve been a stop. In the third quarter, Green threw a 58-yard touchdown pass on a third-and-19 where the coverage broke down when Green escaped the pocket.
Third downs were what killed Auburn defensively. Often times it was due to penalties, but others were because of Green’s running ability and Auburn’s consistent inability to contain him.
Auburn still has issues with mobile quarterbacks, as Green showed throughout the game, but the defense showed growth from a disappointing showing against New Mexico.
Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m
