Why is Auburn's offense not playing to its personnel?
The Tigers are averaging 3.71 yards/play and 13.5 points/game over the last two weeks. They've done that by going away from what's worked.
AUBURN — After a historically bad offensive performance last Saturday in a 16-10 loss at Texas A&M, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said the Tigers would take the upcoming off week to “reevaluate everything related to our offense.”
Self-scouting during off weeks happens everywhere, no matter how a team has played before the break. Even if Auburn’s offense was firing on all cylinders and enjoying a better record right now, the focus would still be inward.
Freeze and his assistant coaches will go through that process over the next several days, studying the film and breaking down the results. That work stretches to the support staffers, who grind behind the scenes for countless hours. The players will have their roles, too.
Every single person who gets paid to do their part in Auburn’s offense will be involved, from Freeze on down. There will be a lot to learn and retool. But, at the end of this process, one major takeaway should stand above all the rest:
Auburn has spent the last two weeks running its offense like it doesn’t even know its own personnel.
For the third time in three chances under Freeze, Auburn is 0-2 to start SEC play. That’s the first such three-season streak in program history.
Granted, Auburn’s first two games in SEC play in 2025 were big-time challenges. Auburn had to play both Oklahoma and Texas A&M — currently undefeated top-10 teams — away from home. The Tigers were rightful underdogs in both matchups.
But Auburn lost both of those games by a combined total of 13 points. And, in those games, the Tigers only scored 27 themselves. They have averaged just 3.71 yards per play in two SEC games, which is almost a full yard worse than Kentucky, the only other 0-2 team in the conference.
This is where Auburn is at, offensively, almost halfway through Year 3 of Freeze. The former Ole Miss head coach was brought back to the league to resurrect Auburn’s offense and go back to the days when he was putting up big-time numbers with big-time recruits. Instead, Auburn is on pace to have a bottom-half scoring offense in the SEC for the sixth straight season.
Things were supposed to be different for Auburn in 2025. The Tigers put up big yards per play numbers last season but didn’t have the finishing product. They got a new transfer quarterback, added a top-five overall transfer at wide receiver and picked up two offensive tackles with multiple years of starting experience in power conferences.
Freeze doubled down on his way of doing things on offense, keeping Derrick Nix as his coordinator for a second straight season and continuing his play-calling arrangement with himself, Nix and longtime assistant Kent Austin. Auburn signed another top-10 high school recruiting class and talked about turning the corner.
There were signs through the first three games that it might happen. Auburn won by two touchdowns at Baylor by running the ball well. It put up efficient numbers against an overmatched Ball State squad before a decent day overall against South Alabama.
Then Auburn was held to less than 300 yards of offense for the eighth time in 29 games under Freeze in a 24-17 loss at Oklahoma. The offense cratered a week later at Texas A&M, putting up 177 yards and needing a miraculous interception return to set up its only touchdown of the game in a 16-10 loss.
Yes, that means Auburn has had fewer than 300 yards of offense in almost a third of its 30 games under Freeze. It happened twice last season, and the Tigers have already matched that in their first two games against quality defenses.
The last two weeks for Auburn’s offense haven’t only been marked by disastrous results — they’ve been marked by baffling strategy. Even if you take into account the quality of the top-10 opponents, the Tigers have played on offense like they didn’t remember what worked earlier in the season.
And that goes beyond just the refusal to run the ball. It’s a widespread issue of not playing to your strengths.