Auburn is 3-2 after taking its second loss of the season up on Rocky Top. It was Alex Golesh's return to Knoxville to face his old boss, Josh Heupel. Most would say Golesh got outcoached by one of the SEC's best offensive minds.
The Tigers have now lost two of their three conference matchups, and both times, dominant running backs were able to turn the game in their favor. Auburn's offense fought more valiantly at home against Florida than it did on the road against Tennessee late.
Is what we're seeing a coaching issue?
Alex Golesh and Joel Gordon's play-calling regret hard for fans to forget
One errant fourth-down play-call on their own 24-yard line when the Tigers were down by three in the final frame will not soon be forgotten.
Byrum Brown pitched the ball out wide to Jeremiah Cobb on the weak side and was promptly stopped behind the line of scrimmage for a turnover on downs. A subsequent game-sealing touchdown from the Volunteers' star of the game, running back DeSean Bishop, was a gut punch.
Golesh said he didn't regret the play-call. Truthfully, it's hard to when you consider the personnel in protection.
The tackles have been better in run protection this year, with the interior seeing turnover on a game-to-game basis. With how weak the guard play has been this season, Golesh clearly felt more confident trying his luck on the outside.
It was a mistake, but an understandable one. There's practically nothing the offensive skill-position players could do to defend against the elite defensive trenches in the SEC with the line playing so poorly.
DJ Durkin's defense is unraveling late in games
Taking out the Southern Miss game, DJ Durkin's defense has given up more points in the second half than the first half every weekend.
The discrepancy in points given up is 66-41, skewed in favor of the second half. Auburn's defense gets tangibly worse after halftime.
That is either a fault of Durkin for failing to adjust to the game flow or the defense not having enough conditioning. It's probably not the latter.
With the pedigree of talent the Tigers have on that side of the ball, the defense being a disappointment is a massive red flag.
Verdict: Coaching is the issue on defense, but offensive play-calling lacks
We can't sit here and say the offensive play-calling is up to snuff. Auburn has had multiple three-and-outs in every game.
Personnel is the main problem there, though. Hugh Freeze left nothing for Golesh's coaching staff, and they had to rebuild an offensive line on the fly. That hasn't worked out well for the skill-position threats.
Durkin seems to be the problem on his side of the equation. He needs to justify his $2.7 million salary sooner rather than later.
If the offense is going to struggle because of the trench play, the defense could at least pick up the tab with a few touchdowns.
Things could get rough this month if they don't, with Georgia, LSU, and Ole Miss on the docket next.
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