Auburn still stood a chance heading into the second half against LSU, but a second-half surge from the LSU led the Tigers to a dominant 48-18 win.

The loss for Auburn marks its first 0-3 start to SEC play since 2012 when the Tigers went 3-9 on the year and 0-8 in conference play. Hopefully for Auburn it won’t have the same fate as that 2012 team, but things aren’t looking great at the moment.

And things don’t get easier for the Tigers as they take on Ole Miss next week.

After the game, Hugh Freeze didn’t sugar coat it, giving LSU credit for the dominant performance.

“They beat us every way that you could,” Freeze said in his postgame press conference.

Freeze came into the game confident from the bye week. Ultimately, his game plan didn’t translate against LSU.

“I felt really good about our plan,” Freeze said. “Felt like we had a chance to get some long drives and keep our defense on the sideline. We just never found any consistency. It’s disappointing, for sure.”

Auburn was still well within striking distance in the third quarter, but Freeze thought that his team lacked effort as LSU piled on a slew of points to pull away late.

“I didn’t think they fought as hard, and that’s something I gotta own,” Freeze said. “It’s my job to get them to play hard.”

Ultimately, Freeze believes his team still has a long way to go before it can compete with some of the top offenses in the conference like LSU and Auburn.

“I don’t know that we’re built to be in a scoring match right now with LSU, or Ole Miss next week,” Freeze said.