5 biggest takeaways: Auburn defense looks lost in defeat to Texas A&M

No. 3 Auburn was stunned by unranked Texas A&M Saturday afternoon in Auburn.

Here are five takeaways from the Auburn’s 41-38 loss to Texas A&M:

• No defense: Ellis Johnson’s unit surrendered 453 yards to Texas A&M, including 277 passing yards to true freshman Kyle Allen making his first SEC and road start. The Tigers got off to a slow start, and couldn’t tackle at any point in the game. Head coach Gus Malzahn said the defense looked like it didn’t know what to do, and it showed as the Aggies were able to do whatever they wanted against an Auburn defense that has trended downward in its past four games after a good start to the season.
• Turnovers, penalties continue to haunt: Auburn was minus-two in turnover margin and committed eight penalties, most coming at inopportune times, allowing Texas A&M to extend drives. Ball security has been an issue at times this season for the Tigers, but two of the fumbles lost on Saturday were inexplicable mental errors. The Tigers aren’t good enough — they’ve won by the seat of their pants for nearly two full seasons — to commit mental mistakes to beat themselves.
• Bye, bye playoffs: The Aggies not only pulled the upset, but they dashed Auburn’s postseason hopes as well. The Tigers were the highest-regarded one-loss team coming in, but the bad loss on Saturday will likely cause Auburn to plummet near the bottom or out of the top 10. There are scenarios in which the Tigers could still make it to Atlanta, but those are slim now and would take a lot of chaos in November.
• Who are they?: Auburn may be the best team in the country who consistently loses in identity as a team. We see it time and time again; the Tigers force things offensively or don’t play with tempo and sense of urgency. On the flip side of the ball, one week its the secondary, one week the pass rush and this week it was all facets including the run defense. Auburn is a very good program with good players and coaches, but so often does it get rattled in situations which causes it to lose games.
• Forget it: Saturday’s effort is tough to swallow. Now, the Tigers must turn their attention to Georgia, who put up 63 points on Kentucky on Saturday. Next week’s Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry will pit two teams with two-losses who desperately don’t want a third loss. Auburn needs to watch the tape, make corrections and head into Athens next week looking to win.

Jordan Cox

After living in Birmingham, Ala., Jordan left the ground zero of SEC Nation to head south to Florida to tell the unique stories of the renowned tradition of SEC football. In his free time, his mission is to find the best locales around.