{"id":81318,"date":"2025-10-17T18:00:38","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T22:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=81318"},"modified":"2025-10-18T13:25:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T17:25:05","slug":"how-auburn-can-get-back-on-track-against-missouri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/10\/17\/how-auburn-can-get-back-on-track-against-missouri\/","title":{"rendered":"How Auburn Can Get Back on Track Against Missouri"},"content":{"rendered":"

Auburn (3-3) enters this week coming off three straight disappointing losses, with an opportunity to right the ship against 16th-ranked Missouri. While the team seems to have put the officiating debacle from last week behind them, the crowd at Jordan-Hare is going to be especially hungry for a win. Head coach Eli Drinkwitz\u2019s Mizzou team features strengths that directly oppose Auburn\u2019s, but it goes the other way, too. Auburn is chock full of talent and has had legitimate chances to win each of its losses. While this game doesn\u2019t feel like a must-win for head coach Hugh Freeze to keep his job, it could be a turning point for the season, good or bad. Can Auburn pull off the upset? It\u2019s more than possible, and here\u2019s how.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Protect Jackson Arnold<\/span><\/h3>\n

This is far easier said than done. The Auburn offensive line has been nothing short of abysmal in pass protection through six games. Quarterback Jackson Arnold<\/a> has been sacked 22 times, the most in the country. Last week, against a physical Georgia defense, improvement was seen, though. The Bulldogs only generated one sack of Arnold, but he still faced consistent pressure. Overall, Auburn\u2019s passing offense is 119th in the nation, with just 167 passing yards a game. When given time, Arnold has been able to get the ball to his receivers on short and intermediate routes. What they\u2019ve yet to do successfully is dial up big plays to their star receivers. If they can stretch the field, especially early, taking a quick lead over a run-heavy team could give them an edge. This offensive line won\u2019t be catching a break this week, however, facing a stout Mizzou defense that\u2019s generated 16 sacks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Slow down the run<\/span><\/h3>\n

Auburn continued its trend of shutting down rushing attacks<\/a> last week vs. Georgia. The Bulldogs were held to a season-low 79 yards on the ground and only averaged 2.5 yards a carry. While this line looks to be elite, they haven\u2019t faced a backfield like Missouri\u2019s yet. Led by sophomore running back Ahmad Hardy<\/a>, Mizzou is sixth in the nation in rushing yards per game, averaging 270 yards. After transferring from Louisiana-Monroe in the offseason, Hardy has emerged as one of the best backs in the country. He ranks 2nd in the FBS in both rushing yards (782) and rushing scores (9). Missouri\u2019s quarterback, Penn State transfer Beau Pribula<\/a>, has shown an ability to burn defenses with his legs, too. Their backfield has fueled their offense to become the second-best team in the nation in time of possession. Auburn\u2019s defensive line has emerged as the engine of this team, specifically its group of edge rushers, which will be directly in the line of fire from Hardy and Pribula. If defensive coordinator Kirby Moore wants to make yet another statement, the opportunity will be there for the taking.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Find a way to force turnovers<\/span><\/h3>\n

Outside of its inability to push the ball downfield, Auburn\u2019s greatest weakness has been its secondary. Allowing over 225 yards a game isn\u2019t their worst feat, either. Through six games, they\u2019ve only picked off opposing quarterbacks twice. If they can slow the run and force Missouri\u2019s offense to rely on the passing game, there is an opportunity to change that. It\u2019s exactly what happened last week when Missouri was down late vs Alabama, who had forced them to go pass-first. Pribula, with the game on the line, threw his second interception of the game, and fifth of the season, to seal a loss. Hardy and Pribula have combined for five fumbles on the season, as well. Kirby Moore\u2019s aggressive defense has a chance to add to these totals, flip the field, and potentially swing the game. <\/span><\/p>\n

Main Image: Jake Crandall\/ Advertiser \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Auburn (3-3) enters this week coming off three straight disappointing losses, with an opportunity to right the ship against 16th-ranked Missouri. While the team seems to have put the officiating debacle from last week behind them, the crowd at Jordan-Hare is going to be especially hungry for a win. Head coach Eli Drinkwitz\u2019s Mizzou team […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5666,"featured_media":81333,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,35583,17,3],"tags":[5822,1546],"class_list":["post-81318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-auburn-tigers","category-news","category-sec","tag-eli-drinkwitz","tag-hugh-freeze"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5666"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81318"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81358,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81318\/revisions\/81358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}