Auburn looking for answers in Birmingham Bowl as first half proved to be a struggle

Auburn got off to a rough start in the Birmingham Bowl, and the Tigers didn’t get on the scoreboard until a Ben Patton 27-yard field goal to cut Houston’s lead to 10-3 with 3:10 to go in the first half.

By that point, Auburn had just 4 first downs in the game, and just 56 total yards. Bryan Harsin called the plays after Auburn fired Mike Bobo following the regular season, but Harsin appeared to have some of the main issues as Bobo.

Auburn began the game on offense with 2 punts after a combined 6 plays, and then a turnover on downs.

One of the bright spots for Auburn was a screen pass to Tank Bigsby that went for 51 yards thanks to some great downfield blocking. But the Auburn offense sputtered from there, as once the Tigers got to the 10-yard line, they had a running play fail to gain, and then a pass fell incomplete.

Auburn called 2 timeouts on defense to get the ball back with 1:36 remaining in the first half. But a botched snap caused a drive to stall near midfield.

Houston led 10-3 at halftime.

Here’s a sampling of some of the reactions:

Houston needs to commit to the run. Auburn can’t stop them.

— Scott Strasemeier (@ScottStras) December 28, 2021

I can just imagine Harsin in the room with Tank saying – look next year we will name the offense after you I promise just don’t ya look at that Portal hahaha

— Auburn’s Very Own (BBall SZN) (@WOWNowThatsMe) December 28, 2021

Auburn is now down to Houston 10-0. The AU offense is not built to make big comebacks. Harsin better get it together on this late 2nd Qtr drive.

— Shutdown Man (@ShutdownMan) December 28, 2021

Harsin give Davis a chance to spark this offense please – we need the mobility from the QB

— Daryl Baxley (@dbaxley74) December 28, 2021

Auburn looks like shit on offense. Harsin better find an answer or he’ll have a losing season. @ESPNCFB

— The Drunk Waitress (@_DrunkWaitress) December 28, 2021

UCF is gonna be a mess in about 3 years under Malzahn. What a mess he left at Auburn on offense outside of Bigsby.

— Ronnie (@ronnie_harter) December 28, 2021

Seems like the only time anything good happens for Auburn on offense is when Tank Bigsby has the ball.

— Brandon Zimmerman (@BZSEC) December 28, 2021

Biggest lesson learned from that Auburn drive:

Without Bigsby, that offense would probably finish the game with negative yardage.

— Andrew. 🦡🇵🇱🇲🇽 (@LatiNo_Chill) December 28, 2021

Auburn’s Red Zone offense is CHEEKS 🗑

— Dylan Hausman (@D_Hausman) December 28, 2021

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.