Auburn Football: Tigers Must Get Their Defensive Edge Back vs. Texas A&M

AUBURN, Ala. — Calling Auburn's 38-23 loss to Mississippi State last month a turning point for the 2014 season is definitely an understatement.

The Tigers were plagued by offensive inconsistency and another slow start away from home while their defense had few answers for the Bulldogs' star-studded attack.

Since that loss and an important bye week, the Auburn offense has responded with back-to-back victories featuring more than 500 total yards apiece.

However, the Auburn defense has gone through the wrong kind of turnaround, as it allowed more yards in the South Carolina and Ole Miss games than in any other previous matchup:

Opponent	Points Allowed	Rushing Yards	Passing Yards
Arkansas	21	153	175
San Jose State	13	65	254
Kansas State	14	40	245
LA Tech	17	105	216
LSU	7	138	142
Mississippi State	38	223	246
South Carolina	35	119	416
Ole Miss	31	151	341

The issues have mostly been in the passing game, where opposing quarterbacks have been able to rely on short- to intermediate-range passes to move the ball effectively.

"We’ve got to do a better job with our zones and passing things off and everything that goes with that," Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said Wednesday night. "It all works together on defense, but that’s an area we need to improve on. Our coaches understand that and our players understand that. I’m confident we will."

With Georgia and Alabama coming up, Auburn's defense will have a chance to get its edge back against a Texas A&M offense that, despite its struggles, is exactly the challenge the Tigers need.

"We are playing a team that was ranked in the Top 10 about a month ago," Malzahn said. "They are unbelievable on both sides of the football. Offensively, they have experience up front, they have big, fast receivers, very good running backs and a talented young quarterback."

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Although the Aggies went with a more vanilla offense with first-time starter Kyle Allen at quarterback last Saturday, they still lead the SEC in pass attempts, completions, yards and touchdowns with head coach Kevin Sumlin's offensive scheme.

As the last two weeks have shown, the Tigers have a lot of work to do in tightening up the secondary.

Auburn faced 53 pass attempts from South Carolina's Dylan Thompson two weeks ago, which was the most an opponent has thrown against the Tigers since Washington State's Connor Halliday threw the ball 63 times in the 2013 season opener.

South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier's no-punt strategy also put extra pressure on an Auburn pass defense that had improved significantly from its 2013 numbers but started to show cracks again.

"We had a lot of miscommunication," defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson said after the South Carolina game. "We’ve had some of that this year but not nearly to that degree. It was more like they reverted back to where they weren’t sure about some of their adjustments."

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Johnson said the Tigers cut down their mistakes in his four key areas of defensive play—penalties, missed assignments, missed tackles and finishing plays—from the South Carolina game to the Ole Miss game, but the mistakes were magnified.

"When we missed a tackle, it was a big, glaring missed tackle," Johnson said.

Ole Miss took advantage of that poor tackling in space with its playmakers on the outside.

A team like Texas A&M is built to capitalize on those same mistakes, and the Tigers could be in for a frustrating afternoon at Jordan-Hare Stadium if they don't improve in that area.

"We know we need to do better moving on this season," junior linebacker Kris Frost said. "[Ole Miss] had some big-time playmakers, as do all the teams we play each and every week, but they definitely did a great job of getting out in space and making moves on us. We missed a few tackles that were unacceptable, but it's basically all about getting back to the basics and really focusing on what we have to do to improve."

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Auburn's play against the run has continued to be its defensive strong suit, and the defensive line showed improvement in the pass rush in the road win over Ole Miss with a season-high four sacks.

But sure tackling and good communication in the secondary were the keys to Auburn's early-season success on defense.

If the Tigers don't reclaim those advantages and take care of business this Saturday, the Aggies could give them a scare—no matter how much the offense is struggling without Kenny Hill.

"We never go into a game with the mindset that we can relax," Frost said. "If anything, it puts us on higher guard against the team we're playing, like a team like South Carolina that has nothing to lose. ... We're going to go into this game with the same attitude we go into every game, which is try to get better and try to do everything we can to dominate from the start."

All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All recruiting rankings and information courtesy of 247Sports. All stats courtesy of cfbstats.com.

Justin Ferguson is Bleacher Report's lead Auburn writer. Follow him on Twitter @JFergusonAU.