Auburn University – 10/15/2022 – The Memphis Tigers had a tough day at Auburn. With seven starting freshmen, the coaching staff wondered how the Tigers would fair. This would be the first real test of the team.
For 20 minutes, the Tigers stayed mainly within the Auburn 35 meters… knocking on the door… but to no avail. Mistakes carrying the ball and lack of runner support were the problems. These were the same problems that were experienced in the Mississippi State match, but State did not capitalize on the errors. Auburn saw the mistakes and took advantage.
In the second half of the first period Auburn took two scores and the confidence of the Tigers was shaken. The dam broke in the second half, again following Tiger support errors and the score ran away. The Tigers were able to get a score late in the second half that took the goose egg off of the scoreboard.
The Auburn pack outweighed the Tigers by 300lbs but the Tigers demonstrated excellent form and were solid. The front of the lineout was not working but the back worked well, so the Tiger backline had plenty of clean ball to work with. The mistakes seemed to happen on phase play with the Auburn players stealing our ball at the tackle.
Final score – Auburn, 55-7.
“The score was not a reflection of the way our boys played today”, said Coach Hill. “I believe they now know they have to tighten up support for the runner and stop making mistakes if we wish to compete at a higher level.”
“The loss hurt, but there were lots of positives about our play today, remarked Coach Beck, backs coach for the Tigers. “We can run with anyone in our league, but we need to heed our lessons.”
Goal now for the Tigers is to build the program and earn an opportunity for a rematch against Auburn at the conference playoffs in 6 weeks.
Man of the Match was Sehrab Baga. He is a beast and dominates the pitch.
The Tigers take on Georgia Tech at home on 10/22. We look forward to having the Tiger Nation out to support this home match.
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