Since 2010, the Auburn football program has seen the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. Although in the last 15 years the Tigers have taken two trips to the National Championship game, beaten Alabama numerous times, won conference titles, and more, there were also some tough times.
One Bryan Harsin comes to mind when thinking about the lows of Auburn football, but so does the season that followed that magical team led to the top by Cam Newton. In 2012, the Auburn football team was close to rock bottom. The Tigers won only three games that year and lost every SEC conference matchup.
Since that 3-9 season, there have been three coaching changes and the worst record the Tigers have ended up with is 5-7. Excluding the COVID year in 2020, the last time Auburn football had a winning record was in 2019.
Though things have luckily not gotten as bad as winning only 3 games, there is one area that The Auburn Observer's Justin Ferguson believes was '2012 levels of bad.' Head Coach Hugh Freeze said himself that the Tigers struggled on 'critical downs and situations' last season, and Ferguson zeroed in on the Auburn defense.
"The biggest defensive issue, of course, was Auburn’s inability to get off the field on third downs — and specifically third-and-longs. We’ll break down that issue in a future newsletter this offseason, because it’s one that prevented the Tigers from being a truly strong defense last season.
"There were a lot more problems on the offensive side of the ball, which is Freeze’s area of expertise. Auburn put up one of its biggest passing seasons in program history in terms of pure yardage, but it only scored a paltry 18.6 points per game against power-conference competition. That was 2012 levels of bad for Auburn."
Auburn football returns to action on August 29 with a matchup against the Baylor Bears.