The Auburn Tigers are 3-0 to start the season with their 31-15 defeat of South Alabama. At the end of the day that is the most important thing. The fact that the Tigers have taken care of business in games they should have won is a positive. That had been an issue for this program over the last four years with both head coaches, Bryan Harsin and Hugh Freeze. However, in those three games, they have yet to put together a complete game. Saturday against South Alabama was an opportunity for that. Auburn played a good first half, but the second half looked like the Tigers were sleepwalking a bit.
Auburn built a comfortable 28-9 lead as both teams entered the locker room for halftime. They showed good balance with 132 yards through the air and 126 yards on the ground in the first two quarters. Quarterback Jackson Arnold had a first-half line of 10 of 18 and one touchdown. He also added two scores on the ground and 34 yards on nine attempts. The offense even showed the big-play ability of sophomore wide receiver Cam Coleman. The first score of the game came with 9:09 in the first quarter when Arnold found Coleman for a 32-yard touchdown to go up 7-0. The Tigers followed that up with the two Arnold rushing touchdowns and a two-yard touchdown to close the first half to take a 28-9 lead.
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Auburn could only manage three points in the second half. South Alabama did not score much, but they did outscore Auburn 6-3 in the first half. South Alabama wide receiver Devin Voisin caught a 12-yard touchdown with 9:55 in the third to make the score 28-15. The Jaguars were not good in the extra point department, with two missed by their kicke,r Hamilton DiBoyan. Freeze did mention after the game that he was being conservative up two scores in the second half. However, Saturday was another good day for Jeremiah Cobb in the run game. He had his second consecutive 100-yard game with 119 yards.
South Alabama had a chance to make it a one-score game with 10:43 in the fourth quarter with the ball at the Auburn 18-yard line. Thankfully for the Tigers, Jared Smith was able to sack Bishop Davenport, which caused a fumble recovered by Xavier Atkins. That was one of two penalties forced by the Tigers on Saturday.
The defense played a solid game, but an issue from last season returned. They could not get off the field at times and give the ball back to the offense. South Alabama was 7 of 16 on third down and three of four on fourth down. That will be key for this team with SEC play beginning on Saturday with a trip to Norman, Oklahoma. Auburn will need to play a full sixty minutes against the Sooners and again the following week when they play the Texas A&M Aggies. The good news is they are 3-0 without playing their best football so far. When they do put it all together, this team will be a tough one to defeat for any SEC opponent.
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This article originally appeared on Auburn Wire: There is room for improvement for the 3-0 Auburn Tigers
