Our weekly recap of each Auburn football game will be “Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down.” Instead of grading each area of the team and how they performed, we’ll take a quick look at what happened and how we see it moving forward.

It was Homecoming on the Plains and fans, alumni, and students gathered in Auburn for the festivities. Jordan-Hare Stadium held its second home game of the season as the Mercer Bears came to town. Members of the Auburn Family gathered to reminisce and cheer on their team and celebrate their favorite school. With a 1-1 record, Auburn looked to rebound from the poor offensive showing and loss at Clemson last week. Check out how each unit of the 2017 Auburn football team fared versus the FCS opponent this past weekend:

OFFENSE

This offense has been challenged, questioned, and scrutinized all week long. With questions about who is calling what plays when, and decisions to change the position of certain coaches, Auburn fans expected to see changes. And they did see some changes. This week’s offense got one thumbs up and one thumbs down.

Wide receivers were the primary issue this week. Four fumbles by three different receivers is absolutely unacceptable if they are to be trusted to make big plays. Turnovers must be cleaned up and that is on the players. If they were lackadaisical only because it was homecoming, I trust they’ll get it done for the next game. Kyle Davis and Nate Craig-Myers each recorded three receptions, considerably more than they have had in previous games. Both need to continue to be utilized for the Tigers to have success. With all due respect to Will Hastings, things will become difficult if he is the primary receiver when Auburn begins to play SEC defenses.

What got lost in a lot of the turnover discussion was that Jarrett Stidham had the second-highest completion percentage in SEC history this past weekend. Only 5 incompletions (with some blatant drops) out of 37 attempts resulted in 364 yards for Stidham – easily his best outing of the season. Stidham’s one bad decision also shows up in those numbers as an interception that was thrown behind Nate Craig-Myers.

The reason for Stidham’s success could have been credited to the changes made by the coaching staff. Chip Lindsey and Herb Hand switched game day locations. Many have noted that Malzahn looked less involved in the play-calling on Saturday. Is that because it was Homecoming? Time will tell when Auburn travels to Missouri this weekend.

DEFENSE

The defensive side of the ball for Auburn gets another thumbs up this week, but just one. The Tigers looked bullied by Mercer at points. They missed tackles and weren’t able to get into the backfield near as much as fans have been accustomed to seeing this season. One could attribute that to being on the field with the offense unable to do a lot at times, but Auburn didn’t record one sack or force one turnover. For Auburn to be successful down the stretch, the Tigers don’t need to have zeros in these categories.

Marlon Davidson did not play this weekend. When asked about it, defensive coordinator Kevin Steele said that if he could have played, he would have. One has to wonder, though, with an injury in preseason, Davidson most likely needed some rest before the wear and tear of the SEC schedule ramps up. It’s possibly the reason Jeff Holland, who has undoubtedly been Auburn’s best player on the field this season, was unable to get in the backfield without his counterpart on the line. Opposing offensive linemen have to pick their poison when choosing whether to double team Holland or Davidson, usually. With no other outstanding threat, Mercer was able to keep Holland in check. Fans should expect Davidson to be back in the lineup this weekend in Columbia in pursuit of Mizzou quarterback Drew Lock.

Auburn will have their hands full with an inconsistent Missouri defense this weekend. At times they have looked like offensive machines (see the beginning of the season) and at times they have looked pitiful (this past weekend). Auburn will need to be ready regardless if they want to open 1-0 in conference play.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Daniel Carlson is still the most confusing part of this year’s Auburn football team. He was 1-for-2 again on Saturday, missing a 26-yarder in the second quarter – a chip shot by most kicking standards. Of course Carlson will continue to be the starting kicker. But if this trend continues, we might see a loss of confidence, from Carlson himself, his teammates, coaches, and the fans.

Coach Malzahn said at his weekly press conference on Tuesday that he would like to see some competition in the punting game. Current starting punter Ian Shannon only had 2 punts on Saturday but neither were longer than 45 yards. That’s a portion of the game Auburn has not had to worry about for quite some time. If Carlson is brought in for some consistency in the punting game, many fans might begin to wonder how that would affect his place-kicking performances down the stretch.

Auburn’s punting competition could be crucial to big games down the SEC schedule and coaches will want to make sure that it is ironed out soon. This week’s special teams unit got one thumbs up.

NEXT WEEK: Missouri

Auburn opens up conference play in Columbia, Missouri against their second Tiger opponent of the year. Missouri and Auburn meet for the first time in the regular season, and first since Auburn outlasted them in an offensive shootout in the Georgia Dome in 2013. Check back next week as we see how Auburn football fares in a Tiger versus Tiger battle.

Fearless and True; Forever Orange and Blue,

Austin Scott

Featured image via Gladiator