Casagrande: Auburn has forgotten how to win

This is an opinion column.

The time for the third quarter was 11:08, Auburn’s best time.

This snakebite finally managed to break, taking a 14-point lead at No. 19 Missouri after the homecoming hosts botched a punt. The touchdown came in the second part of the half, less than four minutes later.

They were in a groove. Missouri was a mess. And everything was about to unravel.

Because Auburn has forgotten how to win.

It’s good enough to lead but not to finish the job, and this season of heartache added another dimension on a sunny Saturday in Colombia.

A 21-17 loss to Auburn was the latest example of the season slowly coming to an end.

For the second straight season, the Tigers are 2-6 overall and 0-4 in the SEC. This program has never lost its first four league games in back-to-back seasons because, well, you see the headline.

They twice blew double-digit leads in the fourth quarter in SEC play after stumbling to a 21-10 lead against Oklahoma three weeks ago. At the center of this mess was a tough pick 6 that took away the lead.

After seven games, Auburn’s only wins remain Alabama A&M (a 3-3 FCS team) and New Mexico (2-4 in the Mountain West).

This time it was more of a slow, gradual death.

Like a 17-play, 95-yard slog for a Missouri offense led by a quarterback who apparently wasn’t in the game. Auburn had every opportunity to take advantage of Brady Cook’s absence, but even with a few new wrinkles and a commitment to the ground game, there were no problems.

When Missouri got the ball one last time with 4:26 left, Auburn was up by just three and looked like a semi-truck stalled on the railroad tracks.

They looked exhausted, not exactly accepting the inevitable fate, but unable to crank the engine one last time.

It was a time of gut check, see heading above.

So when Cook was back on the field after leaving the first drive with an ankle injury, Missouri was the freight train. Those Tigers converted three third downs on that final drive. And with them missing third-and-18, Cook found star receiver Luther Burden for 16 yards on fourth-and-5 of Auburn’s 41 yards.

Burden, an All-American receiver, didn’t get a touchdown until the final moments of the first half but was ready when it mattered most. He had the 13-yard catch earlier in the play to make the fourth-down, convert-or-lose moment more manageable.

But it’s moments like the fourth-round crossing that Auburn consistently fails this season. This time it wasn’t about giveaways for a team that entered the game with the worst minus-11 turnover margin in the country. In fact, Auburn had a 2-1 lead in the takeaway.

And it’s not just about defending that the last drive wasn’t stopped.

Even though Auburn had a big advantage in field position in the fourth quarter, it wasn’t because of anything the offense did. The Road Tigers gained exactly 22 yards in the fourth quarter as Payton Thorne completed one of six throws and nine rushing attempts averaged 0.4 yards per pop.

After Missouri punted out of its own end zone with 5:56 left, Auburn took over the home team’s 37 points at 17:14.

Blood in the water time.

Instinct should take over from there, but… see the headline.

Auburn went three-and-out with two negative running plays in a row and a dropped pass required Oscar Chapman’s seventh punt of the day. And it’s not like there haven’t been positive moments for this Auburn offense, as they’ve been there all season.

The 47-yard touchdown pass to Cam Coleman just after halftime was exactly the vision of Freeze’s first full recruiting class. The five-star transfer from Texas A&M performed well with a long touchdown reception after going without a catch in Georgia’s final game.

The muffled punt touchdown followed moments later, but there was little left for the Tiger offense to celebrate. Aside from a 13-play, 63-yard drive that ended in a missed field goal, the offensive drive chart was a mess.

3 plays, 2 yards (punt)
13 plays, 63 yards (missed FG)
3 plays, 7 yards (punt)
5 plays, 26 yards (punt)
3 plays, -3 yards (punt)
4 plays, -8 yards (turnover on downs)

Game over.

When it came time to thwart the win or get one back, Auburn backed down.

A perfect example of a 2-6 team that is winless in SEC play.

This is a proud program that is going in the wrong direction.

One who is good enough to lead but has forgotten how to win.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or further Facebook.

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