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The Aggies showed a complete lack of preparation and focus as they fell behind the TIgers 21-0, then showed grit and toughness as they rallied back to take the lead late in the fourth quarter. But then they managed to spoil the game, a result that was all the more frustrating because they should never have gone to extra time in the first place.

It is always said that you can point to one or two game moments to indicate why a game was won or lost. That’s certainly the case tonight, and the Aggies helped Auburn send them to their death.

On the plus side, Auburn came into this game with the 14th ranked defense in the country, giving up 304 yards per game. A&M picked 464. They very rarely had problems moving the ball; even when they fell behind early, they got into the Auburn 40 on their first drive, and into the 20 on the second drive. And they got a missed field goal and an interception for their troubles.

They had three golden opportunities via a pair of punts that allowed them to start in Auburn territory and an interception that gave them the ball at the Auburn 15. They came away with a total of three points. You do a little more with one of these drives – put it in the end zone after the interception or set up a field goal on the other drives – and you’re not in overtime. You’re going home, 9-2.

Marcel Reed continues to improve rapidly, but there are still growing pains. He had his best game of the season in terms of passing, completing 22 of 35 passes for 297 yards, 3 touchdowns and an interception. He ran for another 66 and a score. The Aggies have their quarterback until further notice, and he’s still learning. I’m really starting to think he’ll have an incredibly high ceiling.

A&M converted 10 of 19 third downs, and Reed was responsible for most of them. He hit Jahdae Walker twice on the first possession for first downs on 3rd and long, ran for another later in the game and hit Jabre Barber for 36 yards on 3rd and 14 on the go-ahead goal in the fourth quarter. The 73-yard touchdown pass to Noah Thomas was a fantastic throw – absolutely perfect. The crowd at Jordan-Hare Stadium didn’t seem to faze him.

But of course it was not a flawless performance. He threw an interception that killed a drive and very quickly led to an Auburn touchdown that looks like it could have been a 14-point swing. He got himself into a few pockets by leaving the bag behind when he didn’t have to. And he didn’t put the ball exactly where he needed to on the 2-point conversions.

And then there’s the fumbling about A&M’s latest attempt at regulation.

Amari Daniels is going to get in trouble for dropping that 2-point conversion, but he was the running game tonight past Reed’s 66 yards, which were mostly scrambling. He carried 27 times for 90 yards against a rush defense that only gave up 104.5 total times a game. He defeated several SEC teams that have played Auburn. He didn’t do anything spectacular, but he was ruthless. If A&M has Le’Veon Moss in that matchup with Daniels, A&M probably wins if he leaves. But they didn’t. And Daniels gave it his all.

So Noah Thomas had the biggest game an Aggie receiver has had in a while, with 124 receiving yards and two touchdowns. He made a fantastic catch on his first score, showing tremendous body control to get the ball and avoid a big hit from a defender on the way down. That’s two consecutive weeks he’s done that. And then, of course, the 73-year-old ties the all-season touchdown pass mark. Thomas beat his man at the line of scrimmage, Reed put the ball on his hip and that was that.

Jahdae Walker had his best game of the year, with 7 catches for 69 yards and a score. He made a number of key catches on third downs and showed tremendous desire to muscle his way in for a touchdown in overtime.

Jabre Barber only caught two passes, but one was for 36 yards. He also dropped one early. Still, I wish he had accomplished more goals and been healthy when the year started – and maybe had three more years of eligibility left.

Terry Bussey had some nice catches. One of them was in and out very quickly and it ran perfectly. I wish they could figure out exactly how to use him, because you’re starting to see him do good things.

I was very disappointed with the tight ends tonight. Theo Ohrstrom padded a pass that would have been a huge gain and Tre Watson dropped in the first two-point conversion. Was the pass perfect? No. Did he have it with both hands? Yes. And in that situation you have to make that catch.

The offensive line wasn’t great. It wasn’t good. But it was okay. It was able to shut it down with one of the best defenses in the country and allowed Reed to engineer a comeback. A&M took away the sacks and rushed for a four-yard carry. While not great, that should be good enough.

Starting at the 1:09 mark of the second quarter, A&M outscored Auburn 41-22. That should have been enough. It wasn’t.

I don’t know what else to say other than this: the defense had to be the strongest side of the team. They’ve played two absolute dogs of games on back-to-back SEC road trips. They gave up 43 points to a team that had not scored more than 24 points in conference play. They made a terrible quarterback look like Tom Brady. They often had no idea and cost their team the game. There’s no other way to say it.

A&M had two sacks and five tackles for loss. Two pockets is the least Auburn has forfeited conference play. Five tackles for loss is pathetic. Often I have no idea what the defense was doing, and I don’t know if they knew.

Payton Thorne stinks. He does. He came into this game with nine touchdowns in seven SEC games. He had 103 passing yards before people warmed their seats. He just handed it over and Cam Coleman went and got it. When it wasn’t Coleman, it was Keandre Lambert-Smith catching a 60-yard reception that included a completely lost corner and three missed tackles. Thorne threw for 190 yards in the first half. They ate Dezz Ricks alive and bullied Jayvon Thomas when he came in after Will Lee got hurt (that injury may have been a bigger loss than it seemed at the time).

We knew the secondary games would be a work in progress this year, and they are still a lot better than last season. But the defensive line would be the absolute strength of this team. And it’s been bad for a month.

Nic Scourton had no tackles. No pockets. Nothing. He was a complete non-factor. Shemar Stewart rushed one quarterback. He was a complete non-factor. I saw a fake design that did both of them go in the first 20 picks. Well, they certainly didn’t play like first-rounders tonight. They became obsessed with an offensive line, which is very poor in pass protection.

Two linemen played well: Shemar Turner and Cashius Howell. Howell had one of two sacks and two tackles for loss, and his speed was a factor. Turner had 6 tackles. But it wasn’t just the lack of pressure; it was cut into Jarquez Hunter’s running game. He had 130 yards and 3 touchdowns, and he did most of his damage right up the middle. And there was no one there, because A&M had moved their linemen to create a huge hole. We could see it in the press box. You’ve probably seen it on TV. Auburn certainly saw it.

And then leave the middle of the field wide open on 4th-and-2 for Thorne to run 23 yards and give Auburn life late in the game? Unforgivable.

I’m glad there’s a good chance Scooby Williams will return next year. He’s been great. He had 7 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and deflected the pass that went to B.J. Mayes for his interception. The other linebackers didn’t impress me, even though they posted numbers.

I don’t know what to say about the safeties other than the fact that Donovan Brooks had a really nice pocket and they didn’t provide good deep help for the corners.

A&M’s defense was flat and uninspired and seemed downright clueless for 30 minutes. Once they figured a few things out, they couldn’t make the big plays when they needed to. This loss rests firmly on their shoulders.

Randy Bond missed from 53 (or 54). It’s ridiculously unfair to criticize someone for missing a field goal from that distance. He hit the other two he tried, including a high-pressure kick in extra time.

Tyler White should win the Groza Award. He’s just a magician. Another week, another kick that puts an opponent on his 1. It’s remarkable.

The coverage teams stunk. Auburn had momentum from the opening kickoff because they didn’t do their job. Terry Bussey did a good job returning kicks and punts and almost had a touchdown on the final play of regulation.

How a coaching staff can make a team look as bad as A&M for 30 minutes in a game of this magnitude is beyond me. It’s not that they’re losing that’s so frustrating; are How they lost. On Auburn’s third touchdowns, they literally stood close and had no coverage for Cam Coleman. Not at all. They seemed to think Auburn would just turn around for them and didn’t understand until they were standing on the lawn with some of their teeth knocked out. It shouldn’t have been a problem finding a team for this match, and it wasn’t. And that’s about Mike Elko, and he knows it.

The funny thing is, Elko’s building of this program was one of the main reasons the Aggies were able to get back in this game. They believed in each other, didn’t panic and just continued quietly. So good job in the grand scheme, bad job for tonight. And that’s two bad nights out of three.

I have no idea what A&M did defensively for much of the game. They didn’t tackle well, gave Hunter easy runs in critical situations and clearly got beaten deep when you can’t be beaten deep. But there was so much… foolishness? I don’t even know what word to use. You’ve got a corner 15 yards out from Lambert-Smith, who looks shocked as the ball comes that way. You have such a big line split in the middle of your defensive front that Hunter could have pushed a stroller through it, and you don’t adjust. The lack of effective pressure since the LSU game has been troubling. The defense is a disappointment now. And that’s a serious, serious problem.

I didn’t really have much of a handle on Collin Klein’s play calling tonight. The second 2-point attempt works if the ball is thrown a little higher or if Daniels simply makes the play. It was there and it was open. They still had a habit of running the ball through the gut on second down no matter the situation, but I thought he did a good job setting up plays that allowed Reed to succeed for much of the game. You can’t blame him for an interception slip or a fumbled snap.