West Virginia torches Auburn in second half

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The last time Auburn lost three regular-season games in a row, the year was 1999 — Tommy Tuberville’s first with the program.

The expectations were low, the results were accepted.

After Thursday night’s 34-17 loss to West Virginia — the ugliest installment to date of what has become the most disappointing season under Tuberville — the lofty preseason expectations have been torn to shreds, redrawn with the hopes of simply salvaging Tuberville’s 10th season as a winning one.

“I’m obviously disappointed,” Tuberville said. “We played with a lot of emotion in the first half. We just didn’t have an answer in the second half.”

This one definitely got away in the second half, but it also exposed every area of weakness Auburn has shown in what can now be declared a mediocre season. The Tigers are 4-4 with four games to play, two wins away from bowl eligibility and at the ever-changing bottom of its continuous downward spiral.

“Coming in here to Morgantown, we really thought we had a chance to get a big victory on the road and boost that confidence by getting back in the win column,” cornerback Jerraud Powers said. “To come in here and get a loss is real tough.”

Up 17-3 with 10:20 to play in the second quarter, Auburn let the Mountaineers snatch a bit of momentum before the half. Then, the Mountaineers unloaded on an exposed Auburn defense over the final 30 minutes.

The result: 31 unanswered points and a whole new set of questions to direct at what was viewed the team’s biggest strength — a defense that had been strong enough to carry Auburn’s offense, even when it could only manage a field goal.

“The effort was good … Guys were where they were supposed to be,” defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads said. “But I believe we tackled horrendously.“

Again, as it did against LSU, Vanderbilt and even Arkansas, it started so promising.

The Tigers turned around a first-quarter Josh Bynes’ interception by driving 81 yards on a record-setting 20 plays. Only three of those plays were passes and none came on the goal line. That’s where the 9:54 drive stalled before Wes Byrum made it 3-0 with a 19-yard field goal.

Still, it was progress. Whatever identity Auburn had established — a hybrid mixing Auburn’s old-fashioned power football with a splash of Tony Franklin’s spread — it seemed to be working.

“We really moved the ball and looked like an offense, finally,” wide receiver Tommy Trott said.

Another interception off Pat White set up Auburn on its next possession, this one by Walt McFadden, which was turned around quickly and ended with a 16-yard, screen-pass touchdown to Brad Lester.

Burns’ 8-yard touchdown run just 3:05 later gave Auburn its biggest lead since the second quarter of Auburn’s second game of the season.

“It looked real good,” Burns said. “We came out with fire in our eyes and intense and we did some really good things.“

It didn’t hold, of course. Instead, it turned into Auburn’s biggest margin of defeat since last year’s infamous 45-20 blackout at Georgia.

Gashed by big gains on option tosses early, but never giving up the big play, Auburn’s defense finally cracked when White connected with Alric Arnett for a 44-yard touchdown pass to put the score at 17-10 heading into the half.

In the second half, West Virginia turned that crack into a canyon.

Speedy scatback Noel Devine powered the attack, gaining 127 of his career-high 207 on the ground. His 30-yard touchdown scamper with 2:26 to play merely served as an exclamation point on the drubbing.

Devine’s running allowed White to make the big plays through the air. With 4:06 remaining in the third quarter, White’s 2-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Dorrell Jalloh – as in 5-yards-from-any-Auburn-defender open – gave the Mountaineers their first lead of the game, 20-17.

“When you are playing on the road like this, you can’t give them the momentum,” Tuberville said. “Once they got it, we couldn’t get it back.“

Auburn’s only productive drive in the second half ended in familiar fashion. A 52-yard stalled effort ended with Byrum’s sixth missed field goal of the season — a 44-yarder with the wind at his back that sailed wide left. Auburn gained just 32 yards on its five other possessions in the second half.

“We had a lead there,” Tuberville said, “but we were just holding on.”

Auburn has been outscored 90-46 in the second half this season. In all four of their losses, Auburn has led by double digits at some point in the game.

Early in the fourth, White hit Jalloh for a 32-yard touchdown pass — his third of the game — that epitomized the Auburn defense’s second-half effort. Jalloh dodged and slipped by at least three Auburn defenders before scampering untouched into the end zone.

“It really is as simple as fitting and tackling,” Rhoads said. “When you have a guy wrapped up, you have to finish it.“

For Auburn right now, that mantra applies to more than just tackling.

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