Auburn's Strong Defense Not Enough to Overcome Poor Offense

The Auburn Tigers’ defense had a solid day on Saturday against Texas A&M, holding the Aggies to just 16 points in Kyle Field. However, the win eluded Auburn for a second consecutive week, making the effort feel hollow.

After the game, Auburn safety Kensley Louidor-Faustin spoke to the media about the mindset of the defense after the performance and the attitude moving forward.

“[We are] not feeling good,” Louidor-Faustin said. “Not feeling good, just because we can’t finish. So it’s not like ‘Yeah, we did that,’ because at the end of the result, we lost. If we can’t finish, nobody cares about what you did or how good you did. It’s a team sport. We can’t finish. We’re not feeling good.”

Auburn did give up 414 yards to the Aggies on Saturday, many of which would lead to empty drives thanks to Texas A&M penalties or missed field goals. The Aggies had multiple explosive plays, including touchdown plays, called back thanks to flags. However, the bend but don’t break strategy seemed to work for the Tigers.

The Auburn defense allowed just three points in the second half, forcing two field goal tries, one of which was missed by Aggie kicker Randy Bond. The Tigers also intercepted Marcel Reed, who was picked off by Xavier Atkins and returned to the Aggies’ two-yard line. The play set up Auburn’s only touchdown of the game.

“We needed something,” Louidor-Faustin said. “We needed a spark. We needed to turn the ball around, and the ball came to us. We got a pick and set our offense up to score.”

“He [Atkins] is a good player,” Louidor-Faustin said. “He’s got speed, just a player that’s going to go 100 miles per hour.”

Atkins, an LSU transfer, is Auburn’s current leading tackler after five games. Against Texas A&M, he led the Tigers in total tackles with 10. He also registered a sack, two tackles for loss, and a forced fumble to go along with the interception.

“He [Atkins] is a good player,” Louidor-Faustin said. “He’s got speed, just a player that’s going to go 100 miles per hour.”

Unfortunately for Atkins and the rest of the Auburn defense, as Louidor-Faustin said, football is a team sport. The offensive half of the team didn’t show up in College Station, and it led to a defense that was visibly worn out by the end of the game because of how much time it had been on the field.

The Tigers need to find a solution to the offensive woes in the bye week, because they are currently wasting a defense that is No. 27 in the nation in scoring, with a mark of just 16.4 points per game allowed. That is completely unacceptable for an offense with so much talent on paper and a supposed offensive mastermind at the helm.

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