Why Fans Should Have Seen Auburn's Late-Season Implosion Coming

ATHENS, Ga. —  An old, way-too-familiar feeling returned for Auburn and its fans Saturday night in Sanford Stadium.

Auburn's slim chances at a successful SEC title defense came to a devastating end with a 34-7 loss in Athens, a venue where the Tigers had lost in their previous three trips.

It was the third loss in five games for an Auburn team that opened the season with high hopes of returning to college football's biggest stage in the new playoff format.

"We have to be big boys," Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said. "We got it handed to us tonight. That’s uncharacteristic of this team, and we have to bounce back."

While Auburn had not previously been "beaten in all three phases" in 2014 like it did Saturday night to the Bulldogs, fans should have seen a defeat like this one coming.

Since the Tigers' loss to Mississippi State in Starkville last month, a few disturbing trends became even more prevalent, even in Auburn's wins against South Carolina and Ole Miss.

These trends came to a head in Athens, and now Auburn must regroup and respond before this late-season slide turns a former national-title contender into an eight-win team.

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Over-Reliance on the Offense

In the previously mentioned wins against South Carolina and Ole Miss, the Tigers scored 35 or more points and put up 500 or more yards of total offense as the defense continued to struggle.

Auburn had to overcome more defensive woes last weekend against Texas A&M, but two late fumbles on possible go-ahead touchdown drives doomed the Tigers to an ugly loss to the Aggies.

If the late miscues against Texas A&M was a crack in the wall, everything came crashing down against Georgia as Auburn was held to its worst performance of the Malzahn Era, per AL.com's Brandon Marcello:

The mistakes piled up for Auburn's offense, and the defense had to compensate in a major role reversal.

"It was just overall execution," tight end C.J. Uzomah said. "The defense did a good job in the first half. They did their part, but I felt overall, our execution wasn't up to our standard—Auburn football and what Coach Malzahn emphasizes."

The Tigers' mistakes on the offensive side of the ball put more pressure on a defense that had been the weak link.

"Don't get me wrong, Georgia is a really good team," offensive lineman Avery Young said. "They capitalized on all of our mistakes, but making those in a big type of game—it comes down to just inches. Everything has to be perfect. I don't care who you are or what team you are. Everything has to be done like you were taught to do it."

Auburn's recent streak of simply outscoring opponents turned out not to be a sustainable strategy, as one bad night on offense led to a blowout loss for a team that continued to struggle with missed assignments and poor execution.

John Bazemore/Associated Press

More Missed Tackling

According to defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson, Auburn's missed tackles led to more than 100 yards of extra yardage for Texas A&M last weekend.

On Saturday night, a defense that usually struggled with tackling receivers struggled even more with tackling Georgia's dynamic rushing duo of freshman Nick Chubb and the returning Todd Gurley.

Auburn's defensive struggles reached a new low in rushing under Malzahn, according to the Montgomery Advertiser's James Crepea:

"[Chubb and Gurley] are great backs," cornerback Jonathan Jones said. "We knew we had to come in and tackle them—and gang-tackle them."

For linebacker Kris Frost, Auburn's struggles in bringing down Georgia's ball-carriers stemmed from a recent rise in the Tiger defense not playing on the same page.

"Most of our missed tackling is coming from overruns," Frost said. "I know for a fact that I had two overruns in this game. Really, I think tackling in our case is just playing with each other and knowing where you're leverage is coming from. You don't have to be the one to make the play all the time. You're playing with 10 other guys on the field."

As the back end of Auburn's schedule was loaded with talented playmakers, opponents were able to frustrate the defense by forcing the Tigers to make sure tackles—something they haven't been able to do consistently in last few years.

John Bazemore/Associated Press

Too Many Penalties

Auburn entered Saturday night's game against Georgia as the SEC's most highly penalized team with an average of 6.8 per game for 68 yards.

Those errors rose against the Bulldogs as Auburn finished with seven penalties for 78 yards.

"On special teams, we sort of ran into the kicker and they scored right after that and I think that was a big play," Malzahn said. "Offensively, if we got first downs, we had holding penalties that brought them back."

Auburn's roughing-the-kicker penalty in the second quarter, as shown here by Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee, turned an Auburn defensive stop into a Georgia scoring drive.

For Auburn's offense, holding penalties erased a few third-down conversions and forced Malzahn to go conservative with his play calls.

"We had penalties that pushed us back into 3rd-and-20, 3rd-and-22, stuff like that," Uzomah said. "We just didn't execute at a high level."

Auburn's lack of discipline in all three phases haunted the team Saturday night and continued what has been a major problem for the Tigers in recent games.

For a team—and a coach—that preaches excellence in execution, penalties continue to keep Auburn from playing at a championship level this season.

John Bazemore/Associated Press

What Next?

After a crushing loss like this one, Auburn definitely has a lot to work on for the next two weeks until a trip to Tuscaloosa to face SEC West-leading Alabama.

"Anytime you get beat convincingly, as a coach, you have to try and solve the issues that you think you need to moving forward," Malzahn said. 

The Tigers need to address several personnel and playmaking issues through the game week against FCS-level Samford and into preparations for this year's Iron Bowl.

Auburn might not be able to compete for a national championship this season, but an upset victory against Alabama—one that would ruin the big-rival's dreams—could put a bright spot at the end of what has been a frustrating second half of the 2014 campaign.

"We can turn it around," running back Cameron Artis-Payne said. "We're back home next week. We get a win next week, and we're going into the Iron Bowl with some confidence."

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.