Missed Opportunities, Mental Errors Haunt Auburn Tigers in Loss to Oklahoma

The Auburn Tigers dropped their first SEC game on the road at Oklahoma last weekend, and there were a wide variety of reactions to their 24-17 loss to the Sooners.

Many Auburn fans are pointing to the officiating and the missed calls that cost the Tigers a significant amount of points, which is validated, considering the rather atrocious display of  quality officiating by the SEC referees on Saturday night.

However, although it made Auburn’s road to victory much tougher and created an enormous mountain to climb, especially in a hostile road environment, bad officiating was not the sole reason why the Tigers fell in Norman.

Auburn had numerous miscues in multiple aspects of the game and was unable to capitalize on the many opportunities that came its way, which ultimately led to a seven-point loss to the Sooners.

One of the most glaring examples of this is the Tigers’ 13 penalties that totaled 85 yards, 10 of which were committed by the offense. Auburn’s veteran offensive line tallied six false starts, and although Oklahoma’s defensive front is one of the nation’s best, these unforced errors plagued multiple drives.

One of the most underrated aspects of the loss is Auburn’s special teams, which continues to serve as a massive problem for the Tigers.

They don’t show up in the stat sheet when it’s all said and done, but Auburn’s special teams were a disaster on Saturday. The Tigers committed two costly penalties on kickoff returns, including a block-in-the-back call preceding Auburn’s final drive, that dug the offense a deep hole from the start. Auburn began its last drive from its own 8-yard line instead of the 16 because of it, making Arnold and the offense’s job much more difficult.

Another mental mistake came when sophomore wide receiver Malcolm Simmons received a punt near the goal line in the first half, which set up Auburn at its own 3-yard line. The Tigers managed to get out of the endzone with a 40-yard bomb to Cam Coleman down the sideline, but holding and false start penalties halted that drive, forcing Auburn to punt – or attempt to, at least.

Arguably, the most prominent special teams error was senior long snapper Reed Hughes’ botched snap to punter Hudson Kaak deep in Auburn territory, which put the Oklahoma offense in business at the Tigers’ 12-yard line. This ultimately led to the Sooners’ controversial 24-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Setegna, which was later described as an illegal play that should’ve resulted in a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and no touchdown, per an official statement from the SEC offices.

Special teams are often overlooked, but they undoubtedly hurt Auburn’s chances of success on Saturday, especially in terms of field position and momentum.

In addition to mental miscues and unnecessary penalties, a great number of Auburn’s missed opportunities rest on Arnold’s shoulders. There were multiple occasions throughout the afternoon in which Arnold underthrew his target – mostly Coleman running open downfield – and likely cost Auburn a touchdown. On two of those throws, if Arnold were to hit him in stride, the former five-star would’ve been well on his way to the endzone.

And then, of course, the overthrown ball to a wide-open Coleman in the endzone towards the end of the third quarter that would’ve given the Tigers a 17-13 lead was detrimental. Those are routine plays that are inexcusable to mess up, and the outcome would’ve likely been drastically different if Arnold had converted.

All in all, everything that could’ve gone wrong went wrong in Norman, and Auburn still found itself leading midway through the fourth quarter. Despite the multitude of pre-snap penalties, mental errors, and missed opportunities, the Tigers had a legitimate shot to emerge victorious, even with everything that went against them (including the officiating).

For Auburn to get back on the right track and retain its College Football Playoff aspirations, it must clean up its offensive and special teams operations. Committing costly miscues in critical moments of a big SEC matchup makes winning in the nation’s best conference that much harder, especially on the road.

The Tigers have the talent and team to compete with anyone in the country, but they need to reapir the mistakes that led to defeat in Norman – and they need to repair them quickly. Another tough road test awaits this weekend in College Station, and if they can fix the errors that haunted them against the Sooners and control what they can control, Auburn could very well be 4-1 heading into the bye week, and the Tigers would find themselves in a solid position on Oct. 11 for the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.