For the third time this season, Auburn's plan at quarterback could be pivoting.

Following a 29-16 loss to No. 17 Texas A&M in which coach Gus Malzahn repeatedly cited inconsistency on offense, the Tigers have another quarterback controversy on their hands. Sean White started the game against the Aggies and had a strong start, but as Auburn's offense stagnated for much of the game, Malzahn decided to make a change, inserting John Franklin III at quarterback at the start of the fourth quarter.

"We felt like we just needed a shot in the arm, so we gave John Franklin a shot and he did a good job moving the football," Malzahn said. "We got the chains moving. We'll talk about things next week, but that was really what happened: We needed a shot in the arm."

White started the game 6 of 6 passing and led Auburn on a touchdown drive during its second possession of the night. After that, however, the Tigers began to stall, punting on four of their final six first-half possessions. The other two drives ended in a fumble and a Daniel Carlson field goal.

The struggles continued through the third quarter as Auburn punted on all four of its drives in the period, including two three-and-outs. In the third quarter, Auburn ran 21 plays and totaled just 35 yards.

At that point, White was 18 of 27 for 126 yards -- his final line -- and was sacked three times while Auburn faced a 19-10 deficit. Malzahn and offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee approached White on the sideline between quarters and told the redshirt sophomore they were going to give Franklin a chance to ignite the offense. The change, Malzahn said, wasn't because White was playing poorly but rather as a means of giving the offense a needed boost late in the game.

"We were honest with him," Malzahn said. "We told him we needed a shot in the arm and were gonna give (Franklin) a shot. That's all you can be. You can be honest with them and tell them what you're going to do."

Franklin came in the game and led three fourth-quarter drives, two of which ended in turnovers on downs and the other culminating in a touchdown by Kerryon Johnson out of the Wildcat. Still, Auburn's offense had success moving the ball with Franklin behind center, gaining 159 yards in the quarter.

"I thought he did some good things," Malzahn said. "He created some things in the passing game when it broke down, made a couple good throws, couple zone-read runs. He's still learning, still learning the offense, but I thought he gave us a spark."

Franklin finished 4 of 8 passing for 37 yards, with two of his completions picking up first downs. He added 47 yards rushing on nine carries, but had four runs of at least 10 yards, including a long of 16 to pick up a first down on the Tigers' late scoring drive.

"John brings a little something different to the table, so when they see him come in they think Wildcat or whatever," running back Kamryn Pettway said. "That's what made that go when he came in."

Although the end results were mixed, the fact that Auburn had relative success moving the ball with Franklin in the game late presents Malzahn and the offensive staff with another conundrum at the quarterback position between White and Franklin, neither of whom were made available for interviews after the game.

White was named the starter before the season, but in the opener Malzahn used an ill-fated, three-quarterback approach on offense that saw the Tigers use all three quarterbacks on one play, two of them on the field at once on multiple occasions and a seemingly random rotation that varied from play to play. After that experiment failed, Malzahn decided to stick with White as the No. 1 guy, with Franklin as his backup.

White enjoyed his most effective game of his career in a lopsided win against Arkansas State last week, but following the quick start against Texas A&M, the offense's inconsistency became a glaring issue and Franklin performed well when given his first real opportunity to lead the offense this season.

"It's not that we just felt like Sean you're not doing a good job, it was more of let's get John in there and see if we can get a spark," Malzahn said. "That was the thinking. It wasn't so negative from Sean. Sean did some good things."

Just not enough to warrant any assurances about his status as the team's starting quarterback.