Film Room: The reasons behind Auburn's stalled-out offensive drives vs. Tennessee

Auburn had a pair of impressive touchdown drives Saturday night, but several trips could have ended a lot differently. Here's what happened.

QB Bo Nix (Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics)

Auburn scored 30 points Saturday night against Tennessee, but it only scored two offensive touchdowns. The Tigers got inside the Volunteers’ red zone on four different occasions yet just found the end zone once.

“It's just this time of year you've got to score touchdowns, especially against the top teams,” head coach Gus Malzahn said Sunday. “We did that on that last drive. I thought that was real critical.”

In this week’s Film Room, let’s break down all eight of Auburn’s offensive possessions against Tennessee. What made the two touchdown drives different than the rest? Why did the Tigers’ offense stall out on several decent drives that ended in either zero points or short field goals?

The answer has a lot to do with early-down execution and the timing of certain miscues. While Auburn converted 60 percent of its third-down attempts against Tennessee, there were common themes on the misses.

Before we get to the drive-by-drive breakdown, here’…