Auburn falls to 0 and 4 in the SEC October 19, 2024 – the Auburn Unive

October 19, 2024 – Columbia, Missouri - the Auburn University football team as most people expected fell to the Missouri Tigers in Columbia. The Auburn football program has fallen to such a low point that they were Missouri's homecoming opponent on Saturday and Missouri fans did not leave the stadium disappointed.

Auburn has now lost all four Southeastern Conference games that they have played and has fallen to 2 and 5 for the season. Auburn's only wins were over Alabama A&M and New Mexico.

This is head Coach Hugh Freeze's second year at Auburn and the offensive woes have become a familiar theme of the short Freeze era on the Plains.

Freeze said prior to the game that he was going to get star Running Back Jarquez Hunter more involved in the offensive game plan and true to his word, he did do that. Hunter carried the ball 19 times on the day; but for just 57 yards total. Poor execution, poor play calling, a disciplined Missouri defense, and a roster that lacks big playmakers on offense combined to effectively kill any momentum whatsoever on most of Auburn's possessions. Missouri's defense is the seventh ranked defense in the nation against the pass and Freeze has a pass first offense where the quarterback lines up in the shotgun on every play. Even though Freeze had two weeks to prepare the Auburn offense to face Missouri; the Auburn offense managed to score only a field goal in the entire first half of play.

Meanwhile the tenacity of the Auburn defense, the loss of Missouri's starting quarterback Brady Cook to injury on their second offensive play of the game, and two missed field goals hampered Missouri's offense. The result was a 3 to 3 halftime score.

Auburn made some adjustments at halftime so mounted a successful drive coming out of halftime. Auburn wide receiver Cam Coleman caught a 47 yard touchdown pass from Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne to go up 10 to 3 – it would be Auburn's only offensive touchdown of the entire game. On their next drive Auburn was forced to punt; but the Missouri returner muffed the punt. The Auburn defender scooped up the ball and ran it in for a touchdown for Auburn to take what appeared to be a commanding 17 to 3 second half lead. It would be the last time that Auburn would score in the game.

Missouri quarterback Brady Cook had gone to the hospital for an MRI on his ankle. Fortunately, that proved that it was not broken. Unfortunately for Auburn, he returned to the stadium and went back in the game with just 50 seconds left in the third quarter trailing 17 to 6 and the Missouri offense came back from the dead with his return. On 3rd an ten, Cooper threw a 78 yard completion to Mooka Cooper that took the ball all the way to the 2 yard line. That was Missouri's longest pass play in a game the September 2022 game against Abilene. Missouri punched the ball in for their first touchdown of the day and made it 17 to 12. Cooper then converted the two-point play to make it 17 to 14.

Freeze's gimmicky high school offense (which every SEC defensive coordinator has years of Ole Miss tape to study) of course (as it is prone to do) froze up again under the pressure of fourth quarter football and couldn't find the end zone. Auburn did not score a single point in the entire fourth quarter. Auburn was held to 178 yards of passing and less than 300 yards of total offense on the entire day.

That Cook led Missouri from behind for the go-ahead touchdown on a 17 play – 95-yard methodical drive seemed as inevitable to everyone in the stands or watching on TV as sunrise.

This is the first Missouri win over Auburn since the 1973 Sun Bowl. Auburn leads the series 3 to 2.

Auburn is off to its worst start since the 1970s. Recruiting, which has always been where Freeze most excelled, is reportedly very strong. With Auburn in last place in the conference (Mississippi State is the only other winless in conference play team in the SEC) Auburn is officially out of playoff contention and likely will soon be out of contention for a consolation bowl game in Birmingham or Nashville. Auburn fans have been forced by the reality of the situation to turn their focus to next year even though this is just the middle of October. Freeze is only in his second year and after Auburn fired coaches in 2020 (Gus Malzahn) and 2022 (Brian Harsin) there is little that can be accomplished by making a coaching change again so soon. Freeze purged all the Auburn men, including Cadillac Williams, from his coaching staff last offseason. There likely will be more staff changes this off season.

Auburn plays Kentucky next. The Wildcats (3 and 4) are also reeling from back to back losses to Florida and Vanderbilt in a season that has also been a huge disappointment. This game is likely Auburn's best chance to find an SEC victory this year.

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